Protect our indigenous knowledge

Bill aims to empower communities

SCIENCE and Technology Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi-Ngubane urged indigenous knowledge holders to protect their knowledge from misappropriation.

She opened the international conference on indigenous knowledge this week, which was hosted by the Department of Science and Technology in partnership with North-West University in Pretoria. The Indigenous Knowledge Systems International Conference opened under the theme “Protecting indigenous knowledge towards socio-economic development”.

“We should address this issue and become firm,” said Kubayi-Ngubane.

“Researchers who approach communities for their knowledge must exercise basic principles of research and disclose upfront the purpose of their research and produce appropriate documents to prove their authenticity,” she said.

The three-day event brought together more than 250 participants, including delegates from as far afield as Brazil, Germany, Jamaica, Nigeria and Uruguay, to discuss issues around the legal protection of indigenous knowledge.

The conference comes on the heels of Parliament’s approval of the Protection, Promotion, Development and Management of Indigenous Knowledge Bill. The legislation seeks to provide legal protection for knowledge generated and owned by communities, including medical practices, the production of food, cultural expressions, songs and designs.

It is expected to go a long way towards placing communities at the centre of the process of commercialising indigenous knowledge.

Kubayi-Ngubane said not long ago, it would have sounded bizarre for anyone to suggest that indigenous knowledge needed protection, or that it could be harnessed for socio-economic development.

“This is because knowledge produced by indigenous communities was, for the longest time, regarded as no knowledge at all,” she said.

“The process of developing knowledge by indigenous communities was regarded as illegitimate and invalid, and therefore whatever knowledge would have been organised and accumulated using this process was looked at with suspicion.”

Indigenous Knowledge Systems Documentation Centre at the University of Fort Hare project co-ordinator Lily-Rose Mlisa, said communities should not be seen merely as sources of data, but should earn royalties from the knowledge they generate and share.

“An appropriate budget should be set aside for the development of indigenous knowledge systems, and not only for academics, especially if we want the participation of young people,” Mlisa said.

National Advisory Council on Innovation acting chief executive Mlungisi Cele, said the conference was also an opportunity for the indigenous knowledge sector to give their input on the current debate on land ownership.

He also urged the sector to comment on the new white paper on Science, Technology and Innovation.