Ongama Mtimka is the Acting Director of the Raymond Mhlaba Centre for Governance and Leadership and a Senior Lecturer in the Department of History and Political Studies at Nelson Mandela University. His research interests include political economy, international political economy, political risk analysis, and industrial development, as well as party politics and strategy. He holds a BA with majors in journalism and Politics from Rhodes University, an MPhil in SA Politics and Political Economy, and a PhD in Political Studies from Nelson Mandela University. Ongama is a practitioner academic with extensive industry and academic work experience and serves in various boards of community development trusts in the renewable energy sector. He served as treasurer for four years before becoming the president of the association.