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Dr Syanda A. Mthuli

Syanda A. Mthuli

Dr Syanda A. Mthuli

AL: Public Governance

Discipline Public Governance
Email

mthulis@ukzn.ac.za

Campus Westville Campus
Office Address M Block (M-214)

Academic Qualifications

  • Bachelor of Administration (Management & Political Science), University of Zululand. 
  • Bachelor of Public Administration Honours, University of Zululand. 
  • Master of Commerce (Leadership Studies), University of KwaZulu-Natal. 
  • Doctor of Administration (Public Administration), University Of KwaZulu-Natal. 

Biography

Dr. Syanda A. Mthuli is a Senior Lecturer in the Public Governance Discipline, with an academic career spanning various public institutions of higher learning (universities) in South Africa. He teaches in both undergraduate and postgraduate courses and has over a decade of both academic and administrative experience gathered from lecturing and supervising successfully honours, masters (coursework & full research) and doctoral student research projects. He has also held various academic roles, having started as a teaching assistant-tutor and progressing to the roles of researcher, lecturer, senior lecturer and Discipline Academic Leader/Head.

Dr Mthuli is a member of the Association of Southern African Schools and Departments of Public Administration and Management (ASSADPAM), as well as of the International Institute of Administrative Sciences (IIAS). He has been a visiting scholar of social science methodology in a leading institution of higher learning in South Africa and serves as a peer reviewer for leading local and international journals. Including serving as an external examiner of dissertations and theses for a number of institutions higher education in South Africa. His research focus and interests are intertwined but within the domain of public administration/management and policy practice.

Research Interests

  • Social science research methodology,  
  • Political leadership and competition 
  • Statecraft 
  • Bureaucracy performance (Behavioural Public Administration perspective)  
  • Maritime administration and policy 
  • Environmental Public Administration and governance  
  • Participatory & collaborative governance 

Professional Bodies

  • Association of Southern African Schools and Departments of Public Administration and Management (ASSADPA

Selected Publications

  • Mkhize, L., Nzimakwe, T.I., Mthuli, S.A. and Singh, N., 2025. Bureaucrats views of the benefits of a performance management system in a South African provincial department. International Journal of Public Sector Performance Management, 15(3-4), pp.472-491. 
  • Mthuli¹, S.A. and Singh, N., 2024. State-led maritime governance, education and training nexus in South Africa. In Proceedings of the 19th European Conference on Management, Leadership and Governance. Academic Conferences International. 
  • Mthuli, S.A., 2024. Digitalisation of employee performance evaluation to advance public sector human resource management. In Shava E. and Ndebele N. (Eds.) Digital Transformation in Public Sector Human Resource Management (pp. 202-221). IGI Global. DOI: 10.4018/979-8-3693-2889-7.ch011 
  • Mthuli, S.A., 2024. Participatory climate change governance in enabling leadership for climate action and sustainable development in South Africa. Climate Governance in International and Comparative Perspective: Issues and Experiences in Africa, Latin America, and the Caribbean (pp.207 -230). IAP. 
  • Mthuli, S.A., Singh N. and Reddy P.S., 2023. Eroding efficiency and effectiveness: The impact of corruption on public sector performance in South Africa, In Jones, C., Pillay, P., Reddy P.S and Zondi, S. (Eds.) The Nexus Between Poverty And Corruption In Africa: Quo Vadis? (pp. 153 – 176).UK: Cambridge Scholars Publishing. 
  • Mthuli, S.A., Singh, N. and Reddy, P.S., 2023. Political leadership and ubuntu for public sector performance in South Africa’, Elkington, R., Ngunjiri, F.W., Burgess, G.J., Majola, X., Schwella, E. and De Klerk, N. (Ed.) African Leadership: Powerful Paradigms For The 21st Century (pp. 27-43). Emerald Publishing Limited Bingley, Https://Doi.org/10.1108/978-1-80117-045-120231004  
  • Mthuli, S.A., Singh, N. and Reddy, P.S., 2022. Political leadership for improved performance in South Africa: A shift from public management to New Public Governance?’, In Jones, C., Pillay, P.., Reddy P.S and Zondi, S. (Eds.) Towards a generation of inspiring leaders. Lessons from political leadership in Africa: Towards inspirational and transformational leaders (pp.15-35.) UK: Cambridge Scholars Publishing. 
  • Mthuli, S.A., Ruffin, F. and Singh, N., 2022. ‘Define, Explain, Justify, Apply’(DEJA): An analytic tool for guiding qualitative research sample size. International Journal of Social Research Methodology, 25(6), pp.809-821. 
  • Khanyile, R.M., Nzimakwe, T.I and Mthuli, S.A., 2021. Challenges of innovations in participatory governance in UMshwathi Local Municipality in KwaZulu-Natal, Journal Of Public Administration, 56(4.1), pp. 972-985. 
  • Khunoethe, H., Reddy, P.S. and Mthuli, S.A., 2021.Performance management and the Integrated Development Plan of the Msunduzi Municipality in South Africa’, The NISPAcee Journal Of Public Administration And Policy, 14(2), pp.161-187. 
  • Singh, N. and Mthuli, S.A., 2021. The big picture of non-profit organisational sustainability: A qualitative System Dynamics approach, Systemic Practice & Action Research, 34(3), pp. 229- 249.