<p>The colonial doctrines dominating South African classrooms call for ongoing scholarly arguments revolving around the decolonisation of the pedagogical praxis of secondary school mathematics in South Africa. In contributing and advancing this argument, we utilised standard systematic procedures to review the literature and analyse findings from 36 journal articles published in the past two decades that examined the availability and/or scarcity of indigenous knowledge systems (IKS) in the mathematics pedagogy of secondary schools in South Africa. Despite the differences in the study settings, key findings were critical to the implementation of the IKS principle cited in the curriculum and assessment policy statement document and the effects of professional development on teacher self-efficacy in the indigenisation of mathematics pedagogy. This review was guided by two (2) research questions, elevated in line with the objectives. Thus, what are teachers’ perceptions regarding using the ethno-STEM Approach to position IKS in the mathematics pedagogy of the secondary school? (RQ1). What are the mathematics teachers’ pedagogical needs and readiness for implementing the ethno-STEM Approach in the indigenisation of secondary school mathematics? (RQ2). The review established that mathematics teachers are willing to use technology in engineering-indigenised mathematics phenomena, the ethno-STEM Approach in their teachings. However, teacher self-efficacy in the usage of technology needs to be developed regarding the indigenisation of mathematics pedagogy. Thus, the implementation and integration of IKS in mathematics pedagogy through the ethno-STEM Approach is a phenomenon dependent on access to resources and professional development for secondary school mathematics teachers in South Africa.</p>