328pp., paperback, MISTRA, Johannesburg, 2026

ISBN: 9781991274076

A collection of essays that explore the multiple fronts on which South Africa has to prepare for and adjust to the overlapping and often concurrent crises of the age of disasters sometimes referred to as the polycrisis.

Contributions include:

"Are we in the midst of a polycrisis? Ways of understanding the moment humanity finds itself in" by Yacoob Abba Omar

"Pandemics and the creation of pandemic refugees: Adaptive planning and its ethical implications" by Johan Fourie and Kelsey Lemon

"An intersectional approach to natural disasters in Southern Africa utilising big data and artificial intelligence" by Miriam Hofisi and MT Lukamba

"War as a catalyst for social reform" by Laurence Caromba and Chiara Santi Laurini

"Finding water justice in an unjust system: Climate shocks and social activism" by Ferrial Adam

Zamanzima Mazibuko-Makena is the senior researcher in the Knowledge Economy and Scientific Advancement Faculty at The Mapungubwe Institute for Strategic Reflection (MISTRA) in Johannesburg. She is the editor of Beyond Imagination: The ethics and applications of nanotechnology and bio-economics in South Africa and co-editor of Why Innovations Live or Die: South Africa's Innovation System.

Dr Rasigan Maharajh is the founding Chief Director of the Institute for Economic Research on Innovation at Tshwane University of Technology.

SOUTH AFRICA IN AN AGE OF DISASTERS, managing risk and building competence

: Mazibuko-Makena (Z.) & Maharajh (R.) eds.

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