Mabel Dzinouya Sithole – The Conversation

South Africa’s democratic era presidents, Nelson Mandela, Thabo Mbeki, Kgalema Motlanthe, Jacob Zuma and Cyril Ramaphosa. Penguin Random House South Africa

November 17, 2022

South Africa needs strategic leadership to weather its storms. Its presidents have not been up to the task

Richard Calland, University of Cambridge and Mabel Dzinouya Sithole, University of Cape Town

Mandela, the first president of a democratic South Africa, made big strategic choices – not necessarily the right ones, but certainly ones that were befitting of the times.

South African president Cyril Ramaphosa delivers a speech next to a statue of the late former president Nelson Mandela in Cape Town in 2020. EPA-EFE/Ruvan Boshoff

July 21, 2021

South Africa since 1994: a mixed bag of presidents and patchy institution‑building

Richard Calland, University of Cape Town and Mabel Dzinouya Sithole, University of Cape Town

The extent to which presidents adhere to the constitutional written code will have profound implications in relation to their use of executive power.

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