Nkululeko Mkastos Sibanda (21 January 1979) is politician. He was born in

Gwelo Gweru is a city in central Zimbabwe. Near the geographical centre of the country. It is on the centre of Midlands Province. Originally an area known to the Northern Ndebele people, Ndebele as "The Steep Place" because of the Gweru River's high ...

, Rhodesia in 1979 to a family descending from the

Tswana Tswana may refer to: * Tswana people, the Bantu speaking people in Botswana, South Africa, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Zambia, and other Southern Africa regions * Tswana language, the language spoken by the (Ba)Tswana people * Bophuthatswana, the former ba ...

people.

Politics

Students' Union and Human Rights Activism

Sibanda began challenging authority in high school and when he went to College he was elected a member of the Student Representative Council, rising through the ranks until he became president of the National Union of Students in Polytechnic and Technical Colleges (NUSPOTECH). In December 2000 he was elected President of the Zimbabwe National Students Union (ZINASU). He continuously challenged the government on the privatisation of education and the lack of basic human rights in the country. He championed the calls for democratic change in the country. He was the Steering Committee Youth Representative of the Crisis in Zimbabwe Coalition, Board Member of the Zimbabwe Election Support Network, youth committee member of the National Constitutional Assembly amongst other political roles in the country. In 2001, he travelled to South America to attend the Peoples Global Action summit where he met autonomous groups such as the Zapastistas of

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

amongst others, including

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

Landless People's Movement The Landless People's Movement was an independent social movement in South Africa. It consisted of rural people and people living in shack settlements in cities. The Landless People's Movement boycotted parliamentary elections and had a history ...

. Sibanda's achievements include becoming the President of the Zimbabwe National Students Union (ZINASU) becoming the only person to lead ZINASU without being a University student. During his term of office ZINASU won the International Student Peace Prize in

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

Movement for Democratic Change (MDC)

After leaving ZINASU he spent 1 year and 9 months with the

Movement for Democratic Change Movement for Democratic Change or MDC may refer to: * Movement for Democratic Change – Tsvangirai (MDC–T), the former main opposition party in Zimbabwe ** Movement for Democratic Change – Tsvangirai Congress 2006, the second MDC–T congress ...

working in the Office of the President carrying out various responsibilities including Co-ordinating the Broad Alliance and engaging regional ambassadors on the issues of Zimbabwe. Sibanda then left the country in 2004 and returned to active Zimbabwe politics in 2018, when he was appointed the President Spokesperson by MDC President Nelson Chamisa Nkululeko Sibanda is the current Spokesperson for Nelson Chamisa, who is the President of Zimbabwe's Movement for Democratic Change and is thought to have won the July 2018 Presidential elections in the country, before the military stepped in and forced the announcement of

Emmerson Mnangagwa Emmerson Dambudzo Mnangagwa (, American English, US: (); born 15 September 1942) is a Zimbabwean politician who has served as President of Zimbabwe since 24 November 2017. A member of ZANU–PF and a longtime ally of former President Robert Muga ...

as the winner, including the subsequent confirmation by a partisan Supreme Court, sitting as a Constitutional Court. Sibanda held the Press Conference that cast the 1 August 2018 military murders onto the world scene and brought the attention that led to the world recognising that Mnangagwa was not a reformist. At the Press Conference, Sibanda faced a barrage of unfriendly questions from the media, including ITV, BBC and SABC, but he stood his ground and forcefully stated that, no matter what excuses could be conjured up, it was wrong for the military use live ammunition on reporters. With his calm, uncompromising and some say slightly arrogant but forceful posture Sibanda faces the media with a style that is unusual and yet seems to simply state the facts.
Sibanda is currently a troll target of the ZANU PF twitter bots and activists known as varakashi. He hardly posts anything without being bombarded with negative comments from the same group of twitter usernames. Sibanda is also noticeably not concerned by these bots and is regularly reminded by Zimbabweans not to worry about responding to accounts operated by ZANU PF.

TV personality

Sibanda is also a TV personality who co-founded and co-presents with Baillor Jalloh. It's a weekly TV Show on Sheffield Live in Sheffield in the United Kingdom. The TV programme covers issues relating to Africans in the diaspora, bringing high level discussions and analysis of top news items on Africa and African in Sheffield and elsewhere in the world.

Education

* Doctoral Degree in International Relations and Politics - (PhD)

University of Huddersfield , mottoeng = Thus not for you alone , established = 1825 – Huddersfield Science and Mechanics' Institute1992 – university status , type = Public , endowment = £2.47 million (2015) , chancellor = George W. Buckley , vice_chancel ...

. * Master of Arts Degree in Education (Outstanding) - (MEd)

. * Post Graduate Diploma in Education (Outstanding) - (PGDE)

. * Master of Arts Degree in Social Change,

University of Leeds , mottoeng = And knowledge will be increased , established = 1831 – Leeds School of Medicine1874 – Yorkshire College of Science1884 - Yorkshire College1887 – affiliated to the federal Victoria University1904 – University of Leeds , ...

* Bachelor of Arts Degree (Hons) in Social Policy,

Sheffield Hallam University Sheffield Hallam University (SHU) is a public research university in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The university is based on two sites; the City Campus is located in the city centre near Sheffield railway station, while the Collegiate Cr ...

. * Bachelor of Arts Degree (Hons) in Human and Social Studies with speciality in Public Policy,

University of South Africa The University of South Africa (UNISA), known colloquially as Unisa, is the largest university system in South Africa by enrollment. It attracts a third of all higher education students in South Africa. Through various colleges and affiliates, U ...

. * Higher National Diploma in Accountancy, Bulawayo Polytechnic (was expelled from college on the orders of the Minister of Higher Education thus transferred to study with the University of South Africa)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sibanda, Nkululeko 1979 births People from Gweru Zimbabwean politicians Living people Alumni of the University of Leeds University of South Africa alumni Alumni of Sheffield Hallam University Alumni of the University of Huddersfield