“You can’t separate umuntu from abantu, or abantu from isintu”

Nkululeko Motloung

Category

Rural Development
 

Organisation / Company

Plenty Green Africa

 

Position

Garden consultant and permaculture designer

 

Follow

 
 

Profile

Nkululeko Motloung, 32, has carved a path that blends township storytelling, agroecology and climate justice into one mission: reimagining urban food systems. Nkululeko originally envisioned himself as a creative consultant, driven by a passion for brand building and South African narratives. He channels that same storytelling impulse into the soil — literally. As lead consultant and director of a garden consultancy, he creates edible gardens and agroforestry projects that bring food security, beauty and purpose to urban spaces. His daily life is a tapestry of food growing, facilitating gardening workshops and researching alternative food systems based in community care. He’s a field catalyst with Cape Town-based food systems incubator Oribi, a garden leader at the Wits Food Commons Project and a member of the Climate Justice Charter Movement and South African Food Sovereignty Campaign. His partnerships include working with chefs like Marbz (eatingwithmarbz) and platforms like The LongKitchen to spark public food activities and conversations. He won the Standard Bank #BeUnBxd Urban Farmer competition for his innovative approach to merging culture, land and sustainability.

Qualifications

Digital Marketing, Digify Africa

Achievements

  • Won the Standard Bank #BeUnBxd Urban Farmer competition
  • Serves as a field catalyst for Oribi, a food system incubator based in Cape Town
  • Selected as a garden leader for the Wits Food Commons garden project
  • Participated in the Goethe-Institut’s Sustainable Together residency programme, Circular Neighbourhoods
  • Partnered with Food Circles 108 to activate a food garden project in Melville, as part of the Melville Biome
  • Partnered with Chef Marbz (eatingwithmarbz), the resident chef for all food activations
  • Collaborated with The LongKitchen — a platform that brings together small-scale urban farmers, researchers, chefs and artists — to explore alternative food systems and what it means to make the kitchen “longer”

Mentors

  • Mbuso Khoza – admired for teaching indigenous knowledge through performance arts
  • Claire Rousell, a food researcher and graphic harvesting artist – has been deeply influential to the journey
  • Brother Sun, a permaculture consultant – has served as a generous mentor, regularly sharing knowledge and resources via WhatsApp