Methembe Ziphozonke Mdlalose is a Senior Lecturer in Development Studies at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. His academic focus centres on the political and economic dimensions of development and governance in South Africa. Methembe's research is characterised by an interdisciplinary approach that seeks to enhance understanding of how political and socio-economic factors shape development processes. Methembe has published several articles in accredited academic journals and contributed to book chapters.

Isaac Khambule is a Professor of Political Economy and the Director of the Africa Centre for Evidence at the University of Johannesburg, South Africa. He was previously an Associate Professor of Political Economy at the Wits School of Governance, University of the Witwatersrand, where he taught Decision-Making in Public Institutions and was the Academic Head of the Executive Education Unit. Isaac's research interest is on the relationship among the State, Institutions and Development, with a particular focus on the role of the state in economic development and the entrepreneurial state.

Nene Ernest Khalema (PhD) is the Dean and Head of School of Built Environment and Development Studies at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa. Before joining the University of KwaZulu-Natal, he was a professor and lecturer in various Canadian universities since 2001 and served as chief/senior research specialist of the Human Sciences Research Council (2011-16) where his seminal work on participatory action mixed methodologies, migration and mobilities, demography of vulnerable populations and social epidemiology received (inter)national recognition. A critical sociologist, Dr Khalema has co-edited a number of books including the recent: Decolonizing African Studies Pedagogies: Knowledge Production, Epistemic Imperialism, and Black Agency (2023, Palgrave McMillan) and The Oxford Handbook of the Sociology of Africa (2023, Oxford University Press). He has published over 40 articles in accredited academic journals, 30 refereed book chapters and 40 technical research reports and policy/research briefs, and presented 75 papers and 25 academic posters in local, national and international conferences.