Reverend Frank Chikane played a significant role in South African politics as an activist throughout the 1980s and the 1990s. As a civic leader, he was secretary-general of the South African Council of Churches from 1987 to 1994.

In 1995, he earned a Master of Public Administration from Harvard Kennedy School. Reverend Chikane has also held political leadership roles as deputy president of the United Democratic Front and a member of the National Executive Committee of the African National Congress. As a civil servant, he was Director-General of the presidency of South Africa under Thabo Mbeki from 1999 until 2007 and later served the presidency of Kgalema Motlanthe in the same capacity. He played a central role in the birth of the African Renaissance vision, which led to the creation the New Economic Partnership for Africa’s Development and the African Peer Review Mechanism.