Xi Jinping and the Flourishing Forum on China-Africa Cooperation in the New Era

Paul Zilungisele TEMBE (谭哲理) is a Founder and Director at the SELE Encounters, Cross-civilizational Communication Strategies and Analytics in Pretoria, South Africa. TEMBE completed an MA in Kiswahili Studies at Uppsala University in Uppsala (2007, Sweden) and a PhD in Chinese Studies at the Chinese University of Hong Kong (2013 Hong Kong, China). His research and teaching stints have been done at, inter alia, the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Stellenbosch University, Uppsala University, the University of South Africa (UNISA), and at Rhodes University. His current study, looks at the paradigm shifts in geopolitics towards a new world order titled "Fear of Equality – Instilling Meritocracy". He is the author of Xi Jinping and Thriving China-South Africa Relations. (2023). STE Publishers. Johannesburg. Xi Jinping Thought – Through South African Eyes. (2022). STE Publishers. Johannesburg. Ubuntu Beyond Identities – Isintu as a Performative Turn of Ubuntu (2020), Real African Publishers, Johannesburg. He is the lead editor of a book titled Culture, Identities and Ideology in Africa-China Cooperation (2021), Africa World Press. Trenton, New Jersey. He is professionally fluent in English, Mandarin, Portuguese, Kiswahili, Swedish, SeSotho, Xitsonga and IsiZulu. Jeffrey Mathethe Sehume is presently a Chief of Staff in the office of the dtic Minister in the 7th administration. Previously, he was Head of Communications at the Gauteng Department of Economic Development; he has had a long stint as a speechwriter for Mr Parks Tau in his roles as the former President of the UCLG / SALGA and CoGTA Deputy Minister. He has worked as a senior researcher, 2010-2017, at the Mapungubwe Institute (MISTRA) and prior to that, from 2007-2010 & in 2019-21, he was also a speechwriter at the RSA Presidency Office. He has a BA and MA from the University of Witwatersrand and a PhD from the University of Johannesburg. He has taught media and social science subjects at Rhodes University (Grahamstown), AFDA College (Johannesburg) and at Fort Hare University. He joined the-then University of Natal in 1999-2000 as a postgraduate student at the Centre for Cultural and Media Studies (CCMS). He is co-author (with Hester du Plessis & Leonard Martin) of the book, The Concept and Application of Transdisciplinarity in Intellectual Discourse and Research (2013) and co-editor (with Itumeleng Mosala & Iraj Abedian) of Seeking the Ethical Foundations of the South African Nation (2018). His doctoral thesis is being prepared for publication.