The Centre for Geopolitical Security and Strategy (CGSS) is an academic hub within the Faculty of Humanities at North-West University. Rooted in the Global South, CGSS advances strategic stability and security from an African perspective to a global audience.
The Centre prioritises African security challenges while maintaining a global outlook and thereby contributing to knowledge production, policy formulation, and capacity building in geopolitical and strategic affairs. Through accurate analysis, substantive policy reviews, and evidence-based academic insight, CGSS provides a robust portfolio of specialised short-learning programmes, transformative dialogues, and professional security risk products. It convenes interdisciplinary experts and partners to generate collaborative solutions to pressing security issues, offering most services free of charge to maximise regional impact, while select professional offerings are available on a cost-recovery basis to support long-term sustainability.
Meet the team
Prof Barend L. Prinsloo
Prof Barend L. Prinsloo
(Acting) Director: CGSS
Office Tel: +27 18 285 2552
Office Number: F13, G31
Campus: Potchefstroom
Email: barend.prinsloo@nwu.ac.za
Advisory Board (internal)
Internal board members
Prof Gideon van Riet
Prof Gideon van Riet (NWU internal board member)
Associate Professor: Political Studies and International Relations (NWU)
Email: Gideon.vanRiet@nwu.ac.za
Qualifications:
- DLitt et Phil (UJ) 2015
- MA International Studies - (US) (2006)
Gideon van Riet is an Associate Professor of Political Studies and International Relations at North-West University, teaching undergraduate courses on South African Politics and International Relations Theory, with a sociological inclination, as well as postgraduate courses in Research Methodology and Critical Security Studies. His research broadly focuses on security, notably disasters and policing beyond the state, characterised by working across various scales and theoretical eclecticism. Prof van Riet has published numerous articles and book chapters, including in Critical Studies on Security and The International Journal of Disaster Risk Science, along with two monographs. He co-edited special issues, such as the 2020 Politikon on security infrastructures (with Andreas Langenohl), and the 2024 volume Rick Turner’s Politics as the Art of the Impossible (Wits University Press, co-edited with Michael Eze, Lawrence Hamilton, and Laurence Piper). He regularly reviews journal articles, book proposals, and grant applications for outlets including Disasters, Development in Practice, The International Journal of Disaster Risk Science, The Social Sciences Research Council/African Peacebuilding Network, and Emerald.
Dr Benjamin Rapanyane
Dr Benjamin Rapanyane (NWU internal board member)
Senior Lecturer: Political Studies and International Relations (NWU)
Email: 39665089@nwu.ac.za
Qualifications:
- PhD International Relations (UL)
- MA International Relations (UL)
Expertise & Research interests: Foreign Policy Analysis, Afrocentric and Decolonial Studies and Strategic and Conflict Studies.
Advisory Board (external)
External board members
Prof Anthoni Van Nieuwkerk
Professor of International and Diplomacy Studies
Thabo Mbeki African School of Public and International Affairs (UNISA)
Email: vnieka@unisa.ac.za
Professor Anthoni van Nieuwkerk holds an MA in Political Science from the University of Johannesburg and a PhD in International Relations from Wits University. After a distinguished career at Wits, he joined the Thabo Mbeki African School of Public and International Affairs at the University of South Africa in April 2022 as Professor of International and Diplomacy Studies. Anthoni is an accomplished institutional architect, academic manager, facilitator, and programme evaluator. He publishes extensively on African foreign and security policy, has advised policymakers in the South African government, SADC, and the African Union, and regularly participates in scenario exercises. He has supervised over 60 MA and nine PhD graduates, coordinates a regional academic-practitioner network, co-edits the Southern African Security Review, serves on several editorial boards, and is a visiting research fellow at the Wits School of Governance.
Dr Lincoln Cave
Qualifications: PhD in Public Management from the Tshwane University of Technology (TUT)
MA in Security Studies from the University of Pretoria (UP)
Email: lincoln.cave96@gmail.com
Dr Cave’s areas of specialisation include intelligence studies, organisational ethics and human capital development. His contributions to learning and development included being a workplace training facilitator under the aegis of the South African Intelligence Academy. As a Certified Ethics Officer since 2014, he holds the position of Senior Associate at the Ethics Institute of South Africa (TEI).
Mr William Lucky Masango
Qualifications: MBA with UNISA School of Business Leadership (SBL) – 2010
Email: promasango@icloud.com
Mr Masango is a former Deputy Director-General of Operations, DDG Corporate Services and Principal of the Intelligence Academy (SANIA). As a skilled and experienced leader with a strategic vision, Mr Masango has more than 40 years of experience within the Intelligence and Security environment. He was also involved in building capacities and capabilities of fraternal Intelligence/security organisations of SADC region.
Brig. Gen. (rtd.) Marcelino Peter Sereko
Email: marceloseseseko@gmail.com
Qualifications:
- PhD in Philosophy in Social Science with International Relations (NWU)
- MA in Philosophy in Defence and Strategic Study (University of Madras, India)
Brig. Gen. Sereko served inter alia in the SANDF in the Chief Joint Operation Division (C J Ops) as Senior Staff Officer Peace Support Operation United Nations, Commandant of the South African National Defence College, Deputy Chief Army Force Preparation, and retired in 2024 as General Officer Commanding Light Modern Brigade.
Capt (SA Navy) Dr Andries Petrus (Dries) Putter
Senior Lecturer: Faculty of Military Science Department of Strategic Studies, Stellenbosch University
Email: driesputter@gmail.com
Qualifications:
- PhD in Military Science (SU)
- MMil (SU)
- MA in Management of Security (WITS),
- Master’s degree in Business Leadership (UNISA)
Capt. Putter, an active officer in the South African Navy, has served, inter alia, in Defence Intelligence, the Research and Development Section of the SANDF’s Special Forces Brigade, and the SANDF’s Secretariat for Defence. Since 2021, Capt. Dr Putter has been a senior lecturer at the Faculty of Military Science, Stellenbosch University, where he currently serves as Chair for Security and Africa Studies, Chair of the Research Committee, and senior lecturer. He specialises in intelligence studies, particularly counterintelligence, grey-zone conflict, and hybrid warfare, within the Department of Strategic Studies at Stellenbosch University.
Extraordinary Professors
Prof Hussein Solomon
Senior Professor (UFS); Extraordinary Professor (NWU)
Email: solomonh@ufs.ac.za
Fields of expertise: African governance and politics, security studies, religious fundamentalism
NRF Research Rating: B3
Prof Anneli Botha
Email: anneliresearch1@gmail.com
Fields of expertise: Preventing and Countering Violent Extremism and Terrorism, Deradicalisation and Reintegration
NRF Research Rating: C2
Mr John Melkon
Extraordinary Professor of Practice (NWU)
Email: john.melkon@westpoint.edu
Fields of expertise: Geopolitical Risk, Military operations, Military Strategy, Geography, International relations and partnerships
Post-Doctoral Researchers
An exciting opportunity awaits dynamic researchers at the Centre for Geopolitical Security and Strategy (CGSS) at the North-West University, South Africa. Join an innovative academic hub at the forefront of geopolitical risk, security studies, and strategic analysis from an African perspective. As a Postdoctoral Research Fellow, you will contribute to groundbreaking research projects, enhance your professional network, and engage with leading experts committed to addressing critical security challenges locally and globally. This is your chance to shape the discourse on geopolitics and security in a vibrant academic community.