Nonhle Mbuthuma

Nonhle Mbuthuma (born ) is a South African environmental activist. She is the co-founder and spokesperson of the Amadiba Crisis Committee, which opposed planned titanium mining and seismic surveys of the Wild Coast region of South Africa, for which she was jointly awarded the 2024 Goldman Environmental Prize with Sinegugu Zukulu.

Biography Mbuthuma was born in Xolobeni in what was then the unrecognised republic of Transkei in what is now the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. She grew up on the Wild Coast, where her parents cultivated sweet potatoes and bananas on a farm near the town of Bizana in the traditional Pondoland region.

As a teenager, Mbuthuma worked as a tour guide in Pondoland and the Wild Coast, primary completing ecological tours demonstrating the area's biodiversity, as well as whale watching tours. Her job was supported by the European Union, with hopes that the development of ecotourism would be an income opportunity for people living in the region. In 2008, Mineral Commodities obtained a permit with local company Xolobeni Empowerment Company to extract mineral deposits in Pondoland. While some people living in the Wild Coast region supported the mining project, feeling it would improve employment and infrastructure, those living closer to the coast expressed concerns about losing their farms, the polluting of local rivers, and the displacement of both wildlife and also residents to townships. Mbuthuma voiced concerns that the decision to mine the Wild Coast was due to it coming under black tribal administration as part of the Pondoland area of Mpondo people, describing it as a "lingering affect" of apartheid. On 6 December 2021, Mbuthuma filed an emergency motion against the surveys, submitting an affidavit with local testimonies; on 28 December, the High Court in Makhanda issued an injunction ordering Shell to cease any further seismic exploration in the Wild Coast area. On 1 September 2022, the Court revoked Shell's exploration permit; while this was due to the permit being made in 2014 with another agency and then unlawfully transferred over to Shell, the Court also highlighted that Shell had made "inadequate consultations" with affected communities.

Zukulu and Mbuthuma's campaign was credited for leading to the broader recognition of indigenous cultural and spiritual rights in environmental proceedings. In 2024, they were jointly awarded the 2024 Goldman Environmental Prize.

Subsequent activism (2022–present) In July 2026, Mbuthuma spoke out against the construction of the N2 Wild Coast Toll Highway, stating that it had caused the destruction of wetlands along the Wild Coast. She called for the proposed highway to be moved inland.