diff --git a/gnu/packages/rdf.scm b/gnu/packages/rdf.scm
index 068b5e0cfa..e3a26cf734 100644
--- a/gnu/packages/rdf.scm
+++ b/gnu/packages/rdf.scm
@@ -487,7 +487,8 @@ (define-public python-sparqlwrapper
     (arguments
      '(#:tests? #f)) ; The test suite simply queries external HTTP endpoints.
     (native-inputs
-     (list python-nose))
+     ;; Build with setuptools <58 to get lib2to3 support.
+     (list python-nose python-setuptools))
     (propagated-inputs
      (list python-rdflib))
     (home-page "https://rdflib.dev/sparqlwrapper/")