From the parched soil of rural Zimbabwe to the policy corridors of South Africa, Prof Bongani Ncube has never lost sight of one truth: water is life, and access to it must be just.

“I was born and raised in the village, and I am the daughter of smallholder farmers,” she reflects. “Working in water and agriculture was part of my upbringing.”

That upbringing now fuels a career at the forefront of the continent’s water revolution, earning her the NSTF-WRC Award of the prestigious NSTF-South32 Awards.

As the SARChI Chair in Governance and Economics for Water and Sanitation Sector Institutions at Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT), Ncube is leading a transdisciplinary research agenda that fuses engineering, economics, governance and grassroots knowledge. Her team includes 30 postgraduate students across three faculties and five South African universities — a growing community of practice working to transform water governance and economics from policy to practice.

But her greatest strength lies in the way she works, ensuring that those most affected by water scarcity are finally heard, valued, and empowered.

“We don’t just research communities; we work with them,” she explains. “We value their lived experience as much as academic expertise.”

Her eureka moment came in 2013 during research into indigenous knowledge and drought. “Doing interviews with smallholder farmers, all I could hear was the unequal access to water and how emerging and subsistence farmers struggled to access the resource. I saw a huge gap in understanding the challenges they faced.”

That gap became her life’s work. While SA may have “world-class water legislation and policies”, she says that implementation is still uneven, and smallholder farmers face barriers that can take decades to overcome.

Ncube’s solution? Rethink the system. Her participatory research model makes farmers active and equal partners in co-developing solutions. In one project, this approach built trust between farmers and institutions, unlocking additional funding from the Breede-Olifants Catchment Management Agency and the Water Research Commission.

The outcome was a multilingual Farmer Information Package, freely available online in English, Afrikaans and isiXhosa.

“Trust was not just built between the farmers and institutions,” she adds, “but also among the farmers themselves.”

Her work goes beyond technical fixes — it’s about shifting power. “One farmer told me they see researchers as people who can compile and express farmers’ needs in ways the government recognises. I thought that summed up our role very well.”

But the journey hasn’t been easy. As a woman in male-dominated spaces, she’s faced barriers, prejudice and institutional resistance.

“I emigrated out of frustration after being overlooked for a leadership role,” she recalls. “But every detour taught me resilience. The work has always been bigger than me.”

Now, with global partnerships in France and Canada, her model is gaining international traction. “The future of water governance is collaborative, inclusive and just. We must keep building systems that honour the voices of those most affected — because that’s where true transformation begins.”

For Ncube, the NSTF-WRC Award is a shared milestone. “This isn’t just my win, it’s our win — the communities, farmers, students, collaborators and my institution. This award amplifies our collective voices and the work we’re doing together.”

Read the special Mail & Guardian supplement about all the NSTF-South32 Award winners.