harvested are reported as benefits of these technologies. We found that traditional knowledge is not influenced by age (β = −0.006 ± 0.01, P = 0.64) or gender (β = −0.16 ± 0.25, P = 0.64) but rather correlates positively with geographic location, irrespective of the starting point of the distance measurement (distance from Port Elizabeth city: β = 0.002 ± 0.0008, P = 0.004; distance from Ngqushwa village: β = 0.0024 ± 0.0009, P = 0.008). Counterintuitively, formally educated people tend to have more traditional knowledge, but this is likely linked to the modern technologies (online survey and social media platforms) used to collect data during the COVID-19 pandemic. We suggest that traditional knowledge that has sustained life for centuries in rural communities must be integrated into water resource management to address water scarcity issues in rural Africa.