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Most of the articles that are in this September 2019 edition of the renowned Journal of Public Administration are a product of the 19th Annual Conference of the South African Association of Public Administration and Management (SAAPAM), which was hosted at the University of Mpumalanga, Mbombela. This watershed conference took place on the 14-17 May 2019, a week after the 2019 general elections in South Africa under the theme of "Public Affairs, Governance and the Fourth Industrial Revolution". This conference drew delegates from different parts of the world including Africa, Asia and South America. As such, its output in the form of the articles in this edition have immensely benefited from critical and valuable inputs from local and international delegates, emanating from both scholarly and government circles. It is on this basis that the research findings presented in the arti