Abstract
This study contributes to the limited body of knowledge on rural African land defenders and how they draw on ecofeminist ideas to mobilise their activism. The contributions of black, women environmental defenders are often downplayed, as these women are framed as desperate mothers or victims. Moreover, literature tends to represent African women environmental activists from marginalised communities as passive and in need of special assistance. Nonhle Mbuthuma is a Black, African, rurally based, woman land defender who has been threatened with death and violence for her activism in South Africa. This study describes how Nonhle draws on ecofeminist ideas to drive her activism and represent herself and her cause in the media. Media interviews were analysed with thematic analysis to elicit how Nonhle positions herself concerning the issues she presents and how she conceptualises her activism. The findings show how she dismantles narratives depicting women land defenders as passive victims, by emphasising the influence of patriarchal systems of power that are oppressive, separate from nature, competitive and self-interested. Her activism is emancipatory to environmental governance and disrupts Western development narratives, favouring an indigenous ontology of care, connection, belonging and reciprocity.