I am one of the only 12 fellows globally awarded a prestigious postdoctoral fellowship at the International Research Group on Authoritarianism and Counter-Strategies (IRGAC) of the Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung. As IRGAC’s only African based postdoctoral research fellow, I am hosted by the Wits School of Governance (WSG) at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg.” My current postdoctoral research work, which I have presented at various international, regional and local conferences, focuses on the intersection of the political economy of the following areas: contested extractivism, geopolitics, energy colonialism, natural resource governance, critical and strategic minerals, renewable energy, geopolitics, illegal mining, artisanal and small-scale mining, neoliberal authoritarianism, indigeneity, economic indigenisation and uneven development. I recently completed a colonial reparations project where I was the Lead-Read Southern Africa Colonial Reparations Researcher at African Futures Lab, where I profiled the reparations demands for colonial crimes and slavery by Southern Africans. This project, which ran from March 2023 to February 2024, gave me an opportunity to interact with the variegated civil society organisations, social movements, coalitions and networks working in the pertinent areas of debt cancellation, tax justice, economic justice, social justice, political justice, human rights and many others in Southern Africa. The overall theme of the project was Pursuing the agenda for reparations for colonial crimes and slavery.

Further to that, I am a member of the following academic associations: European International Studies Association (EISA), Historical Materialism-Research in Critical Marxist Theory, International Studies Association (ISA), the South African Association of Political Studies (SAAPS), Africa Indigenous Knowledge Research Network (AIKRN), and the International Sociological Association (ISA)’s RC-40 Research Committee. I completed my PhD in Political Economy and Public Policy in 2022 at the WSG, working with Prof. Gavin Cawthra, Prof Patrick Bond and Prof Erin McCandless. My PhD thesis is titled “Overpromising and under-delivering: Zimbabwe’s extractive industry indigenisation and uneven development. Based on my PhD, my account of the intersection is currently being turned into a monograph under a contract with Routledge Press titled ‘Extractive Industry Indigenisation in Zimbabwe: Corruption, Collusion and Uneven Development.’ My other research interests include colonial reparations, political risk analysis, social contract, political settlements, conflict, participation, solidarity, monitoring and evaluation, geopolitics, and social cohesion. Also, for the past nine years, I have been a researcher, teaching assistant and sessional lecturer of graduate students at the WSG and Wits Business School (WBS).

RESEARCH OUTPUTS

Manduna, K. (2024, April 12). Authoritarianism, State Violence, And Vigilantism: Security Challenges Posed by Illegal Miners in South Africa. International Research Group on Authoritarianism and Counter-Strategies of the Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung. Retrieved from https://irgac.org/articles/authoritarianism-state-violence-and-vigilantism-security-challenges-posed-by-illegal-miners-in-south-africa/

Manduna, K. (2023). The implications of the COVID-19 pandemic on South African food security: A paradigmatic turn for building-back-better. The International Journal of Sociology of Agriculture and Food,29(1), pp. 45–64. doi: 10.48416/ijsaf.v29i1.499.

Manduna, K. (2023). Are mining-induced displacement and resettlement losses compensable? Evidence and lessons from mining communities in Zimbabwe. The Extractive Industries and Society, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.exis.2023.101281

Manduna, K. (2023). Extractive industries indigenisation, displacement and vulnerabilities: The case of Arda Transau, Zimbabwe. The Extractive Industries and Society, 14, 101223. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.exis.2023.101223

Manduna, K. & Muchadenyika, D. (2022). Indigenization policy in the extractive sector in Zimbabwe. In G. Onyango (ed.), Routledge Handbook of Public Policy in Africa. New York: Routledge.

McCandless, E.; & Manduna, K. (2021). Supporting Resilient Social Contracts in Times of Crisis: Emerging Lessons from COVID-19. SA Future Economy. Johannesburg, South Africa: Wits School of Governance, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. Retrieved from https://www.wits.ac.za/media/wits-university/faculties-and-schools/commerce-law-and-management/wits-school-of-governance/documents/McCandless-Supporting%20Resilient%20Social%20Contracts%20in%20Times%20of%20Crisis.pdf

Manduna, K., Zinyama, T., & Nhema, A.G. (2015). Local government participatory budget system in Zimbabwe: The case of Harare City Council, 1995-2013. Public policy and administration research, 5 (11), 38-68.

OPINION PIECES

Manduna, K. (2023, August 16). Zama Zamas: Victims, not criminals. TimesLive. Retrieved from https://www.timeslive.co.za/sunday-times-daily/opinion-and-analysis/2023-08-16-kennedy-manduna-zama-zamas-victims-not-criminals/

Manduna, K., &  Tushkin, A. (2024, March 06). Thucydides’ trap and the renewal of Africa-Russia relations in the face of global geopolitical shockwaves. Retrieved from https://irgac.org/articles/thucydides-trap-and-the-renewal-of-africa-russia-relations-in-the-face-of-global-geopolitical-shockwaves/