Nonhle Mbuthuma and Sinegugu Zukulu

2024 Goldman Prize winners Sinegugu Zukulu (left) and Nonhle Mbuthuma (right)Goldman Environmental Prize

Nonhle Mbuthuma and Sinegugu Zukulu lead their community in a campaign to stop Shell, a multinational oil and gas company, from carrying out devastating seismic tests off the coast in South Africa’s Eastern Cape. For their efforts, they have been awarded the 2024 Goldman Environmental Prize. 

The Wild Coast, South Africa

The Wild Coast is an area on South Africa’s Eastern Cape. Thanks to the Agulhas Current stirring up nutrients, the coastline is home to a vast array of marine life including whales and other mammals, hundreds of species of fish, and over two thousand plant species.[1] The north section of the Wild Coast is called Mpondoland; it home to the Mpondo people, and is broken down into numerous administrative districts, such as the Amadiba district.[2] The Amadiba administrative district homes approximately 3,000 families,[3] many of whom rely on the marine life in the area to make a living, collecting fish, mussels, and various types of shellfish to sell.[4]

The coastline is not only imperative to the livelihoods of the Mpondo people, but to their culture and spiritual beliefs. Many believe that the ocean is the home of their ancestors, and portals situated along the coast enable the community’s elders and healers to communicate with them. Because of this, it is imperative to the Mpondo people that these portals remain under their protection.[5]

Screenshot taken from 'Nonhle Mbuthuma and Sinegugu Zukulu' by The Goldman Environmental PrizeA group of Mpondo people pray on the beach on the Wild Coast, South Africa.

Shell’s Seismic Tests 

In 2021, it was reported that the oil and gas giant Shell had been granted permission from the South African government to carry out seismic tests along the Wild Coast. Seismic tests or surveys are used to determine what lies beneath the surface of the sea floor. Companies like Shell use them to find oil and gas reserves that they can then drill for and use as energy.[6]

However, seismic tests are usually destructive to the marine life as they involve using extremely high-powered sonic air guns which blast the sea floor. These blasts are harmful to the marine life not only because they destroy fish eggs, larvae, and plankton, but because they emit around 250 decibels which causes hearing loss in mammals, disrupts their ability to communicate effectively, and make it increasingly difficult for them to find prey.[7] If an oil or gas reserve is located with the seismic tests, and companies like Shell begin drilling, the likelihood of an oil spill is also significantly increased.

Nonhle Mbuthuma and Sinegugu Zukulu

Nonhle Mbuthuma and Sinegugu Zukulu are both Mpondo people from the Amadiba district in the Wild Coast. In 2007, Mbuthuma co-founded the Amadiba Crisis Committee (ACC), a local organization with the aim of preventing the development of a titanium mine in their area. Zukulu is a program manager for Sustaining the Wild Coast (SWC), a non-profit dedicated to the promotion of environmental sustainability. SWC work closely with Indigenous groups to develop independent development goals for the communities; their name in isiMpondo, Mazibuy’emasisweni!, means ‘Let us bring back our heritage!’[8]

Mbuthuma and Zukulu, along with the organizations they work with, paired up in 2007 to lead a decade-long successful campaign against the development of titanium mines in the Amadiba district. So, when Zukulu learned of Shell’s impending seismic tests in 2021, he contacted Mbuthuma and the ACC immediately. Less than two weeks later, the pair had organized a meeting involving the entire of Amadiba’s coastal community.[9] During the meeting, Mbuthuma and Zukulu discovered that despite the clear guidelines set out to oil and gas companies like Shell, the Mpondo people had not been consulted before the seismic test plans were approved by the South African government, as they should have been. Instead, Shell only reached out to a handful of commercial fisherman and predominantly white recreational fishing associations in the area.[10]

Once Mbuthuma and Zukulu had met with the coastal communities, the campaign was well under way. They gathered testimony from the community and experts and compiled them into a 400-page document to submit to the courts. They made videos and wrote calls to action, prompting other communities to get involved and support the campaign, and led a community walk, in which Mpondo people called out to their ancestors for support. They partnered with other larger organizations such as Greenpeace and Amnesty International to begin the legal process that they hoped would result in Shell’s permit being rescinded.[11]

In September 2022, the High Court did just that, noting that the permits had been granted unlawfully. For their strong leadership and steadfast commitment to protecting the Wild Coast of South Africa, Nonhle Mbuthuma and Sinegugu Zukulu were awarded the Goldman Environmental Prize in 2024.

You can watch the Goldman Prize’s film about Nonghle Mbuthuma and Sinegugu Zukulu here.

About The Goldman Environmental Prize

The Goldman Environmental Prize was founded in 1989 by Richard and Rhoda Goldman, as they wanted to reward activists and inspire others to join the fight for climate justice. The prize, “honors the achievements and leadership of grassroots environmental activists from around the world, inspiring all of us to take action to protect our planet.” By “grassroots,” they mean, “those involved in local efforts, where positive change is created through community or citizen participation.”[12]

The winners are announced at an annual live award ceremony, which coincides with Earth Day. Due to restrictions because of the pandemic in recent years, the award ceremony has been hosted virtually. However, under normal circumstances, the ceremony is held at the San Francisco Opera House in California. There is also a smaller, more intimate ceremony for the winners only, which is held in Washington D.C. At the winner’s ceremony, they are presented with a bronze sculpture of an Ouroboros, a serpent biting its tail; in many cultures, the ouroboros is a symbol of nature’s power of renewal.

To date, The Goldman Environmental Prize have honored 226 environmental activists, from 95 different countries. To see the previous winners of the award, click here.  

To learn more about the other 2024 winners of the Goldman Environmental Prize, click here.

[1] Redd, Dani. HOW ECOTOURISM CAN HELP SAVE SOUTH AFRICA’S WILD COAST. [Online] Available https://www.muchbetteradventures.com/magazine/ecotourism-not-mining-wild-coast/.2023.

[2] Ibid.

[3] Meet Sinegugu Zukulu & Nonhle Mbuthuma.  [Online] Available https://www.goldmanprize.org/recipient/sinegugu-zukulu-nonhle-mbuthuma/. 2024

[4] /nonhle-mbuthuma-and-sinegugu-zukulu-goldman-environmental-prize

[5] Goldman Prize, 2024.

[6] Milligan, Mark. What Are Seismic Surveys And How Much “Shaking” Do They Create?. [Online] Available https://geology.utah.gov/map-pub/survey-notes/glad-you-asked/what-are-seismic-surveys/.2004.

[7] Goldman Prize, 2024.

[8] https://swc.org.za/

[9] Goldman Prize, 2024.

[10] Ibid.

[11] Iii.

[12] Overview of the Prize. [Online] Available https://www.goldmanprize.org/overview-of-the-prize/.2024.