Astute political scientist and commentator, researcher and author, Dr Somadoda Fikeni, has landed one of the top positions in the country.
He will now be Head of the Public Service Commission (PSC). His appointment as PSC Commissioner, for a five-year term of office, follows endorsement by President Cyril Ramaphosa in terms of Section 196(7)(a), read with Section 196(10) of the Constitution.
His areas of expertise are policy analysis, comparative politics, research methodology, international politics, political economy and heritage. He is an author, researcher, public speaker and commentator on a range of local and global political, social and heritage as well as economic issues.
He told the Highveld Chronicle on Thursday afternoon his skills, knowledge and experience will come in handy in building state capacity and efficiency.
“Having taught and specialized in public policy analysis and public administration as well as research and development, will be of great advantage because that is precisely what is needed, but more importantly this time around, I might become a link between the university sector which mainly trains people which are to be employed with the Public Service and the PSC to talk about imagining a new public servant in the next few years on sustainable basis…what are the things we have learned and what should change in the training of a new cadre of civil servant ,” he said.
The Public Service Commission derives its mandate from Sections 195 and 196 of the Constitution. The Commission is tasked and empowered to investigate, monitor and evaluate the organisation and administration of the public service. The Commission also has an obligation to promote measures that will ensure effective and efficient performance with the public service and to promote values and principles of public administration, as set out in the Constitution, throughout the public service.
Fikeni said that his focus will be to work on bringing in professional organizations to build state capacity. “It is not ideal to wait for a crisis to happen and then investigate. It is also important to use new technologies of the 4th Industrial Revolution to improve effectiveness and efficiency of the state in consulting with business,” he said.
He also said he has retired from public commentary with a few exceptions on major global and major national issues. “I will not be running commentary on local issues for a simple reason… I might be analysing a Minister or a department only to find it is the same department which may have to be investigated by the PSC or will have to work with the PSC to improve some of its services. So they may not be co-operative if they know they are being criticized in the media,” he said.
Dr Fikeni hails from Lugelweni village in the Alfred Nzo District of the Eastern Cape. He acquired his BA and BA Honours in politics and social sciences from the then University of Transkei, currently known as Walter Sisulu University.
He also studied peace and political studies programme at McMaster University in Canada and obtained his MA in International Politics and Comparative Development at Queens University, also in Canada. He went on to obtain his Doctoral Studies or PhD in Comparative Politics and Public Policy Analysis at Michigan State University in the USA.
He held various management and leadership positions which include being the merger manager at the University of Transkei, founding COO and Heritage Manager for the National Heritage Council of South Africa (NHC). Dr Fikeni is also an associate professor to the Unisa Thabo Mbeki School of Public and International Affairs.
