As mapnik now has changed to cmake and supports static plugins, I think the next step is to port python-mapnik, too.

As a lot has changed, I would also update to the new pyproject.toml https://pip.pypa.io/en/stable/reference/build-system/pyproject-toml/ and using scikit-build https://scikit-build.readthedocs.io/en/latest/index.html which makes it much easier to build.