Take, for example, Dvuyo Ndara from Shakawe, who is part of a collective of women who make various products from the mongongo plant. She is gatvol with empty promises and made this quite clear during her presentation when addressing stakeholders at a side-event themed ‘Gender equality and Indigenous knowledge in biodiversity governance' at the first Africa Biodiversity Summit held in Tlokweng recently.
Ndara said indigenous knowledge is sacred and should be protected from exploitation through patents and resource support for the local communities. She said they had been trying to eke a living from refining natural seeds and plants, but were recurrently challenged by a lack of resources. She said the few people who had come forward to offer assistance had turned out to have other motives as they took their knowledge and ran off with it. She cited an experience where researchers from an institution in the West visited them and engaged in their local knowledge, only to come and harvest the same plant and make products to sell elsewhere.
