Sithembile joined PARI as Executive Director at the end of 2024. She is a political scientist with fifteen years of experience working in academia, civil society and government. Before joining PARI, she was a senior lecturer in the Department of Political Sciences at the University of Pretoria. Sithembile’s research interests include global governance, elections and democratisation. Prior to UP, she was a researcher in the secretariat of the National Planning Commission contributing to the drafting of the National Development Plan in the areas of public service reform, anti-corruption policy and community safety. She has served on the Boards of well-known civil society organisations since 2014. Sithembile holds a doctorate in International Relations from the University of Pretoria, and master’s and undergraduate degrees from the University of Cape Town.
Email: sithembilem@pari.org.za
Publications
Mbete, S. (2024) ‘Making Sense of Voter Turnout in the 2024 South African National and Provincial Elections’. Journal of African Elections 23(2): 117–49.
Mbete, S. (2024) ‘The Quest for Equitable Multilateralism: Mapping South African interests in reforming the global order’. An FES Report. Johannesburg: Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung.
Mbete, S. (2023) ‘UN Security Council Reform: What the world thinks – Africa’. Paper prepared for the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, 28 June 2023.
Mbete, S. (2022) ‘Electoral Reform in South Africa’. Research report prepared for the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (OUTA) and My Vote Counts (MVC), October 2022.
Mbete, S. and V. Reddy (2022) ‘Reconsidering South Africa’s electoral system: What are the alternatives?’, in N. Bohler-Muller, C. Soudien and V. Reddy (eds) Ethics, Politics, Inequality: New Directions, pp. 29–53. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner Publishers.
Mbete, S. (2020) ‘Out With the Old, In With the New? The ANC and EFF’s battle to represent the South African “People”’, in B. Moffit, P. Ostiguy and F. Panizza (eds) I Am A People: The Performance and Cross-Regional Praxis of Populism, pp. 240–54. Abingdon: Routledge.
Mbete, S. (2020) ‘South Africa’s Successes in Forming Alliances for Multilateralism in the United Nations Security Council’. Multilateralism 2.0: In Search of New Partnerships for the German and European Foreign Policy. Berlin: Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung.
Mbete, S. ‘Why high hopes over Electoral Act judgement are misplaced’. Business Day, 16 June 2020.
Mbete, S. ‘Disrupted world order brings urgency to South Africa’s seat on the Security Council’. The Conversation Africa, 4 July 2019.
Mbete, S. (2019) ‘Moving on up? Opposition Parties and Political Change in South Africa’. HBS Perspectives. Berlin: Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung.
Mbete, S. (2016) ‘Assessing the performance of the Economic Freedom Fighters in the 2016 Municipal Election’. South African Journal for Public Administration 51(3.1): 596–614.
Mbete, S. (2015) ‘The Economic Freedom Fighters: South Africa’s turn towards Populism?’ Journal of African Elections 14(1): 35–59.
Mbete, S. (2014) ‘SA Elections 2014: Performance of New Parties’. EISA South Africa 2014 Election Updates 9: 26–33.
Mbete, S. ‘Form over substance? Evaluating the EFF’. Kujenga Amani, 5 May 2014.
Kariem, A. and S. Mbete (2012) ‘Building a Future for South Africa’s Youth’, in J. Hofmeyr (ed.) Transformation Audit 2012. The Youth Dividend: Unlocking the potential of young South Africans. Cape Town: Institute for Justice and Reconciliation.
Sylvester, J. and S. Mbete (2011) ‘The 2011 LGE: Separating the Reality from the Spin’. Idasa Politics Brief, May 2011. Cape Town: Institute for Democratic Alternatives in South Africa.
