Professor Ari Sitas’ term as South African BRICS Think Tank Council (SABTT) Chair has ended as he formally retired from his tenure as a Professor at the University of Cape Town. Prof Sitas has led the SABTT since 2015, and most notably during South Africa’s BRICS presidency in 2018, having provided exceptional leadership throughout. Prof Sitas will continue supporting the SABTT team and advising where possible in his capacity as Board chairperson of the National Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences. He will also continue with his various academic commitments; directing a major AfroAsia project on the movement of material and symbolic goods before European hegemony (700-1500AD) and as a Gutenberg Chair.
We are pleased to announce that Prof Siphamandla Zondi has taken over the SABTT Chairship and official representative in the BRICS Think Tank Council (BTTC). As Head of the Department of Political Sciences at the University of Pretoria, and member of the South African National Planning Commission, his research interests are in the Decolonisation of Knowledge in Relation to Africa’s Politics and International Relations including South African Foreign Policy and Political Dynamics. His recent publications include a co-edited book on the Decolonisation of University and its knowledge. An outstanding scholar, he is no stranger to SABTT and broader BRICS family given his long-standing contribution as a researcher, having presented various research papers, including A decolonial south-centric perspective on BRICS in the era of globalization and a new type of global governance (during 2018), among others. We look forward to having Prof Zondi provide us with strategic leadership as we continue, most notably in the upcoming Academic Forum in Brasilia, Brazil, during September 2019, and beyond.
