Dr. Somadoda Fikeni is a public figure who has held various leadership roles in the public sector organisations and as a scholar or public intellectual who has influenced public discourse, institution building and public policies. He is currently the chairperson of the Public Service Commission of South Africa as well as the chairperson of the Indlulamithi South Africa Scenarios Board of Trustees.

Educationally, he holds BA & BA Honours (Unitra), MA (Queens University in Canada) and a PHD (Michigan State University) as well as numerous short programmes in specialised areas.

His areas of specialisation and interest are political science, public policy analysis and development, history, political economy and heritage.

He has lectured in different universities in South Africa and abroad. He has also held management positions at universities and policy institutions as well as think tanks. He is a researcher and an author in the aforementioned fields.

His main professional work has been and continues to be in public policy development, higher education and heritage sector. He has chaired a number of boards and councils. He has also participated in establishment and repositioning organizations. He is a visiting professor at the Nelson Mandela University in South Africa.

One of the leading public commentators on politics, policy, economic, social and heritage issues in South African and international media and forums having been recognised with several awards for this work.

He has received several honours and awards in South Africa and abroad and one of these is the honorary chieftaincy that was bestowed on him in Ghana. He is a community development activist and has initiated a number of community development and charity organisations to mobilise resources for assistance of the poor and the disadvantaged. As a student leader and a youth he was involved in anti-apartheid struggle and got detained on numerous occasions for his activism.

As a public speaker, he addresses the intriguing topic of public sector reforms and reviews ’30 Years of Democracy’.