Dr Stephen Rule

A geographer at heart, I have been privileged to be able to weave geography into most of my professional pursuits. I have managed an independent policy research consultancy (Outsourced Insight) since 2005, focusing on issues such as education, financial literacy, youth development, religion, migration, gambling behaviour and urban settlements. This has involved projects across all provinces of South Africa, as well as in Nigeria, Kenya, Rwanda, Namibia, Lesotho and Zambia. I have previously served as a research director in various divisions of the Human Sciences Research Council, most recently working on national online surveys to determine public response to and experience of the Covid-19 lockdown; surveys of school readiness to re-open during the Covid-19 pandemic; stakeholder satisfaction surveys for the Parliament of SA; an impact evaluation of the SA National Health and Nutrition Examination survey; and a study of household and commercial adaptation to the Western Cape drought. Other work positions have been research director in the Ministry of Social Development; research specialist in the Community Agency for Social Enquiry; senior lecturer in geography at Vista University, Soweto (now part of UJ), and town planning researcher in Newcastle. I have served on the Boards of the National Development Agency and the SA Monitoring and Evaluation Association.

• Ph.D. Political Geography (University of the Witwatersrand 1996)
• M.A. Population Geography (University of Natal 1988)
• Honours B.A. Geography (University of South Africa 1984)
• B.A. Geography, Sociology, Zulu (University of the Witwatersrand 1980)

Social and political surveys, data analysis, migration dynamics, religious and educational issues, project monitoring and evaluation

• https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4101-7469; 
• https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=Kye4Zx8AAAAJ&hl=en
• https://www.linkedin.com/in/stephen-rule-23522b6/

Peer-reviewed publications:

• Adams, R., Rule, S. & Masilela, T. 2021. From the Bewysburo to the Biometric State: A Critique of Migration Institutions and Policies in South Africa. In: Plaatjies, D. (ed). Making Institutions Work in South Africa. Cape Town: BestRed/HSRC, 205-227.
• Rule, S., Roberts, B. & Struwig, J. 2021. Izwi labantu (voice of the people): tracking public opinion through political transition. In: Soudien, C., Swartz, S. & Houston, G. (eds). Society, research and power: a history of the Human Sciences Research Council from 1929-2019. Cape Town: HSRC Press, 346-368.
• Kanyane, M., Adonis, C. & Rule, S. 2020. Vuwani: Understanding the violent community response to municipal boundary re-demarcation, African Security Review, DOI: 10.1080/10246029.2020.1845760
• Rule, S., Parker, S., Majikijela, Y. & Lunga, W. 2020. Neighbourhood responses to drought in the Western Cape. GeoJournal. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10708-020-10185-5
• Masilela, T., Rule, S. & Adams, R. 2019. ‘Accounting’ for migrants in inequality and the future: the distance to openness. In: Soudien, C., Reddy, V. & Woolard, I. (eds.).The state of the nation: poverty & inequality: diagnosis, prognosis and responses. Cape Town: HSRC Press. 137-166
• Rule, S. 2018. Migrants in Cape Town: settlement patterns. HSRC Review 16(4):19-21
• Rule, S. 2018. Migration destinations in Cape Town: Where and Why? In Proceedings of the Biennial Conference of the Society of South African Geographers, University of the Free State, Bloemfontein (1 – 5 October 2018). ISBN: 978-0-86886-852-3, pp. 84-102.
• Rule, S. 2018. Geography and voting: the growth of urban opposition in South Africa two decades after democratisation, South African Geographical Journal 100(2), 141-161. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03736245.2017.1339628
• Lin H, Guo Y, Kowal P, Airhihenbuwa CO, Di Q, Zheng Y, Zhao X, Vaughn MG, Howard S, Schootman M, Salinas-Rodriguez A, Yawson AE, Arokiasamy P, Manrique-Espinoza BS, Biritwum RB, Rule SP, Minicuci N, Naidoo N, Chatterji S, Qian ZM, Ma W, Wu F. 2017. Exposure to air pollution and tobacco smoking and their combined effects on depression in six low- and middle-income countries. British Journal of Psychiatry 211(3):157-162. doi: 10.1192/bjp.bp.117.202325.
• Donaldson, R., Rule, S. & Mearns, K. 2016. The rise and demise of Geography at Vista University. In Visser, G., Donaldson, R. & Seethal, C. (eds.) The Origin and Growth of Geography as a Discipline at South African Universities,  Stellenbosch, Sun Press

Recent client reports:

• Rule, S., Parker, S., Lunga, W., Majikijela, Y. 2019. Household & Business Adaptation to 2016-2018 Drought in Western Cape. HSRC.
• Rule, S., Parker, S., Edelstein, I., Davids, Y.D., Houston, G., Majikijela, Y., Adonis, C. & Masilela, T. 2019 Report on stakeholder satisfaction survey for the Parliament of the Republic of South Africa: phase two. HSRC.
• Rule, S. Ke, Y. Adonis, C., Adams, R., Bitso, B., Edelstein, I., Masiza, M., Mokwele, T., Shandu, B. 2017. South African National Health & Nutrition Examination Survey (SANHANES-1) – 2012: Impact Assessment Report. HSRC.
• Costantini, G., Nkosi, T., Gwabuya, S., Rule, S. 2017. Mapping study of Civil Society in the human rights and social justice sectors in South Africa. Framework Contract Beneficiaries 2013 – Lot 7 – Governance and Home Affairs. EuropeAid/132633/C/SER/multi. Request 2017/386017.

Recent media articles:

• Rule, S., Bohler-Muller, N., Roberts, B., Mchunu, N. & Mtyingizane, S. 2021. Approval rate of Ramaphosa’s handling of pandemic linked to whether South Africans comply with regulations. Maverick Citizen op-ed 9 February 2021
• Rule, S., Afrika, K., Mchunu, N. & Mtyingizane, S. 2020. Surveys show one in three adults in South Africa does not wear a mask when leaving home. Maverick Citizen op-ed 20 October 2020
• Rule, S., Davids, Y.D. & Orkin, M. 2020. Reopening of schools: Bold leadership & planning required. Maverick Citizen op-ed 5 May 2020

Email: geosurveyguy@yahoo.com