Hangwelani Hope Magidimisha holds a PhD in Town and Regional Planning from University of Kwazulu-Natal. Dr Magidimisha made a history when she became first black South African born women to be awarded PhD in Town and Regional Planning. Dr Magidimisha is a senior lecturer and programme co-ordinator in Planning at the School of Built Environment and Development Studies (BEDS) at the University of KwaZulu-Natal. Before joining University of Kwazulu-Natal, she worked in various portfolios as a practitioner in town planning, a researcher and now as an academic. She is specialist on Spatial Planning, Housing, Service Delivery Inequalities, and Migration. Nene Ernest Khalema is former chief research specialist at the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC), an Adjunct Professor in the Centre for Health Promotion Studies, School  of Public Health at the University of Alberta (Canada), and currently an Associate Professor of Community Development and an interim Dean and Head of School of Built Environment and Development Studies (BEDS) in the college of Humanities at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (South Africa). He is a specialist on migration, critical race relations, and global health disparities and has led research projects in the area. He was formerly a lecturer at the Centre for Social and Global Analysis at Athabasca University (Canada) and an Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Social Work at the University of Calgary in Canada.  Lovemore Chipungu, Dr., holds a PhD in Town and Regional Planning, an MSc and BSc (Hons) in Urban and Regional Planning. He worked in various portfolios as a practitioner in town planning, a researcher and now as an academic. His areas of research are in urban land, low income housing and urban policy issues. Currently, he is employed as a lecturer in the School of the Built Environment and Development Studies (University of Kwa-Zulu-Natal, South Africa). Tamuka Chirimambowa is a DPhil. in Development studies candidate at the University of Johannesburg, South Africa. Tamuka has worked extensively with civil society in Zimbabwe and South Africa and is keenly interested in the political economy of transformation in post-colonial Africa. He is currently engaged in research on political party engagement and citizen participation, specifically: elections and democratisation; migration and remittances;  state and economic reforms in Southern Africa; and democratic governance in Southern African states.  Tinashe Chimedza is a co-founding Associate Director of the Institute for Public Affairs in Zimbabwe (IPAZ), he studied Social Inquiry at the University of Technology Sydney (Australia).  Tinashe has published on  civil society, political participation, governance and democratization in Zimbabwe. He has worked extensively with civil society in Zimbabwe and is currently engaged  in research on the  economic development and social transformation within SADC region; migration policies and regional integration;   and the role of Southern African nation states in development.