Dr Matefu Lefty Mabela is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of African Languages at the University of Johannesburg. He holds a Doctorate in Language Practice from the Tshwane University of Technology, awarded in 2020, for research examining the interplay between language, discourse, and sociopolitical dynamics in contemporary South African politics. His research interests span sociolinguistics, language policy and planning, terminology development, corpus linguistics, and the intellectualisation and development of African languages. His scholarship engages with critical questions of multilingualism, linguistic rights, language policy implementation, and the role of indigenous languages in knowledge production and social transformation. Dr Mabela has published in accredited scholarly journals and presented his research at national and international conferences, seminars, and symposia. His notable publications include Intellectualisation of Northern Sotho for Scientific Purposes, Language Policy, Media, and Attitudes in South Africa: Navigating Linguistic Diversity, and The Role of Code-Switching in South African Political Discourse: Linguistic Strategies of Populism. His current research explores African language intellectualisation, terminology development, computational approaches to indigenous language development, and the advancement of multilingualism in higher education and broader society.
