My Thoughts
#1: Economic & Market Perspective
My passion sits at the crossroads of political science and advanced methodology, where policy analysis meets the practical realities of development. I focus on minerals and commodities as a testing ground for new approaches to fiscal and monetary reform, drawing on models such as Black–Scholes, the Diamond–Dybvig framework, and even concepts like elliptic curves from cryptography to imagine the next evolution of central banking. I’m intrigued by how deep mathematical ideas—such as expressions of the Riemann Hypothesis—can inform political economy and challenge how authority and economic power are organised.
#2: Computational Political Methodology
Equally compelling is the computational dimension. Complexity theory and computational complexity—especially the classic P vs NP question—offer a way to see why many policy problems in mineral value chains are effectively NP-hard: verifying a solution is easy, but finding it amid power asymmetries, information gaps, and political risk is costly. This lens pushes me toward heuristics, parameterised models, and ensemble simulations that map multi-layered spaces of geography, institutions, networks, ideology, and finance, revealing how political risk acts as a shifting constraint and how genuine reform can emerge from systems that appear intractable.
My three pillars specifically focus: political economy + minerals and commodities + complex computational models theories = a more resolute forecast & assessment.
#3: Intellectual history — Philosophy-Indigenous Thought
Power in the emerging era of the Hybrid State lies not only in institutions but in the shifting relationship between the political subject and the political citizen. To understand this terrain requires grappling with the environment, culture, and behaviour that shape governance, identity, and belonging. Scholars like Mahmood Mamdani and Achille Mbembe remind us that colonial legacies and postcolonial mutations create blurred lines between coercion and consent, while thinkers such as Kwame Nkrumah, Julius Nyerere, and Chinua Achebe highlight the cultural and moral dimensions of liberation and governance.
Intellectuals from Cheikh Anta Diop to Nawal El Saadawi interrogate the historical, gendered, and epistemological foundations of power, just as Archie Mafeje, Chabani Manganyi, V.Y. Mudimbe, Kwasi Wiredu, and John Mbiti compel us to situate African philosophy and social thought within the global debate. Meanwhile, Wallerstein’s world-systems theory and the political economy frameworks of Daron Acemoglu and James A. Robinson open critical windows into structural constraints, while Amitav Acharya calls for a rethinking of international relations from the Global South.
In my own journey, it is the voice of Dr. Sizwe Mpofu-Walsh that stands as a beacon — a scholar whose work has bridged theory, activism, and public engagement, and who personally inspired me to see scholarship not as abstraction but as praxis. To navigate the hybrid state, then, is to move between these traditions — understanding power as layered, contested, and lived.
#4: Being a Burkian & Neo-Reflective
Edmund Burke’s philosophy of reform, grounded in prudence, continuity, and respect for inherited institutions, offers a powerful lens for reimagining governance in South Africa and across the Global South. Burke cautioned against reckless revolution, arguing instead for reform that balances tradition with necessary adaptation—an approach that resonates with societies navigating post-colonial transitions and structural inequalities. Applied to modern bureaucracy, his thinking suggests that institutions must not be rigid machines of administration but living systems that embody accountability, transparency, and responsiveness to citizens.
By fusing Burke’s cautious yet progressive spirit of reform with contemporary demands for democratic intelligence, states in the Global South can cultivate bureaucracies that are not only efficient but also deeply rooted in legitimacy and trust. Such a model could usher in a new era where governance becomes an engine of empowerment, balancing stability with innovation, and aligning the destiny of the Republic of South Africa with the broader aspirations of the global South.
