Mandipa Ndlovu

Mandipa Bongiwe Ndlovu is a PhD candidate at the African Studies Centre Leiden under the Leiden University-University of Edinburgh Partnership. She is also a research analyst and policy consultant. In March 2022 she was appointed to the Ibrahim Index of African Governance youth advisory council.

Her PhD project is entitled ‘Urban Governance and Bulawayo's Political Economy in Independent Zimbabwe’. Unpacking nuanced metanarratives from 1980-present, the project interlinks the legacies, realities and futures of industrial development to civil-military relations which underpin counter-urbanisation trends and policies in Zimbabwe’s second largest city. Locating this discussion within the current precarity of Zimbabwe’s young working-age population, Mandipa seeks to expose avenues towards sustainable socio-political, as well as economic futures for this demographic.

Mandipa holds a Master of Philosophy (MPhil) in Justice and Transformation (with Distinction) from the University of Cape Town. Her first Master of Science (MSc) in Violence, Conflict and Development (with Merit) was obtained from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) where she was a Mo Ibrahim Scholar under the Governance for Development in Africa Initiative. Mandipa also holds a Bachelor of Social Science Honours (BSocSci Hons) in Justice and Transformation from the University of Cape Town, and a Bachelor of Social Science (BSocSci) in International Relations, Business French and Gender Studies (with Distinction) from the University of Cape Town. She has previously taught at the University of Cape Town and has worked at non-governmental organisations such as, but not limited to, the Institute for Justice and Reconciliation (IJR) in Cape Town.

Keywords: urbanisation, militarisation, civil-military relations, youth empowerment, gender justice, political economy, sustainable African governance, African development, trauma and memory, transitional justice.