Nozolile Shude, Mtolani vill w Sinegugu Zukulu, 17 6 2026 full

Nozolile Shude, expert farmer who grows several dozen species and varieties of crops, in Mtolani village of the Amadiba territory of Mpondoland, Eastern Cape, South Africa. As a midwife and healer, Nozolile talks about the importance of food from their own land and the ocean, and of cultural and spiritual relations to these. She talks about how creatures of the sea come to them in dreams and show them where to find useful things, that their ancestors reside in the ocean, and that it has important healing properties. She asserts, as have most people of her community, that proposals for mining and other 'development' projects in the area would be disastrous. "Here, we are free to go where we want; in the city, there is congestion, there are fences and we cannot walk free, here we have a peaceful life and we want to protect it", she says. Even during COVID, when people in cities were suffering, we had no problems. Even if they bring guns, she asserts, we will oppose the projects with our mouths. Interview by Ashish Kothari, with translation by Sinegugu Zulu, at Mtolani village, 17.6.2026.