Navigating the africentric ways of revitalising farming cooperatives to fortify the livelihoods and education of rural communities in South Africa
Ngudo Ndanganeni 
, Maserole Christina Kgari-Masondo & Bernard Chingwanangwana
Issue: Vol.7 No.1 2026 Article 5 pp. 57 – 69
DOI: https://doi.org/10.38159/ehass.2026715| Published online 18th February 2026
© 2026 The Author(s). This is an open access article under the CCBY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
This qualitative case study explores the role of Indigenous Knowledge Systems (IKS) in promoting sustainable farming cooperation, focusing on the traditional davha practice in Matangari Village in Limpopo Province of South Africa. Historically, the davha system, deeply rooted in African communal values, emphasized collective effort, reciprocity, and mutual assistance among community members. This practice involved families coming together to assist one another with essential farming tasks such as ploughing, planting, weeding, and harvesting. The current qualitative case study examined how these cooperative efforts have contributed to the sustainability of agriculture in sustaining the livelihoods and education in Matangari, particularly in the face of environmental challenges such as drought and floods, together with apartheid era bottlenecks and setbacks. The research highlights the enduring impact of the Africentric approach to farming, even after the disruption caused by colonialism and apartheid policies, which restricted land access and undermined traditional practices. Through structured interviews with community members, the study revealed that the Davha system not only fostered agricultural productivity but also reinforced social cohesion, emphasizing the values of Ubuntu and communal well-being. The findings suggest that Indigenous knowledge Systems like Davha can offer valuable insights for modern farming cooperatives, providing sustainable solutions to contemporary agricultural and environmental challenges. This study advocates for the revitalisation of such traditional initiatives as a Decoloniality process, and to repeal the current agricultural policies negating the strengthening of rural communities, thereby promoting food security through collaborative and culturally grounded approaches.
Keywords: Decoloniality, Africentric, Farming Cooperatives, Indigenous Knowledge Systems, Matangari Village, Ubuntu.
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Professor Maserole Christina Kgari-Masondo, Full Professor of History, University of South Africa. South African-born and educated, widely published with an excess of twenty articles. Has experience in teaching Cultural History. Has a cutting-edge approach to Decolonization and Indigenous knowledge insight and campaign, through her various writings and practices. Professor Maserole Christina Kgari-Masondo grew up as an orphan and in a poverty-stricken household. Despite that, she used her family background and personal challenges as motivation to be a high achiever. Studied her degrees through academic awards from the Kellogg’s Foundation, Mellon Foundation, and National Research Fund. For her PhD, she won a prestigious Academic Award from the Carnegie Mellon Scholarship for Black Students from 2004 to 2007.
Dr. Bernard Chingwangwana, holder of a PhD in Educational Leadership (Witwatersrand), born in Zimbabwe, South African Permanent Resident, currently doing a Post-Doctoral Research Fellowship with the University of Venda, South Africa. He is on leave of absence from Zimbabwe Ezekiel Guti University. He has been in Education for over 35 years, from High School to University. Has published over twenty articles on Educational Leadership and Management. His area of speciality and research interest is ethical leadership in schools, with an inclination on turbulent school environments.
Ms. Ndanganeni Ngudo is a Lecturer in the Department of Human Sciences at the University of Venda. She is an emerging academic who is enrolled on her PhD. She holds an Honours and Master’s degree in history, which she obtained Cume Laude.
Ndanganeni, Ngudo, Maserole Christina Kgari-Masondo & Bernard Chingwanangwana. “Navigating the Africentric ways of Revitalising Farming Cooperatives to Fortify the Livelihoods and Education of Rural Communities in South Africa.” E-Journal of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences 7, no.1 (2026): 45 – 56. https://doi.org/10.38159/ehass.2026715
© 2026 The Author(s). Published and Maintained by Noyam Journals. This is an open access article under the CCBY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
