Draft:Sthembiso Shandu Mbatha

Sthembiso Shandu Mbatha
Sthembiso Shandu Mbatha (born 27 October 1992 in Ulundi, KwaZulu Natal ) is a South African political activist best known for his involvement in the Fees Must Fall movement and Tshwane University of Technology student agitator against student financial exclusion practices. Shandu rose to notoriety in 2016 after a disagreement with then-Vice Chancellor Prof Lourens Van Staden   while serving as SRC deputy president. He then became the face of #FeesMustFall for TUT, speaking out against student persecution and poking the then-Minister of Higher Education, Mr Blade Nzimande   .

He currently serves as a Convocation Representative in the Senate at Tshwane University of Technology, having been elected on January 27, 2023.He has been involved in a number of social justice and human rights movements in South Africa over the last decade Shandu is currently a member of Umkhonto weSizwe (Political Party).

Early Life
Shandu was born in 1992 to SAPS officer Aaron Bhekinkosi Mbatha and his wife Thandi Elsie Mbatha (MaNdlovu) in Mashona, Mahlabathini, a rural district in South Africa's KwaZulu-Natal province. He is one of six children and is the first in his family to attend university. He attended university after taking a gap year owing to financial constraints; a former Isolezwe Editor offered registration costs for his first year of studies at TUT, and he was later funded by NSFAS. Shandu's father died from tuberculosis when he was 10 years old in 2002..

His family has been impoverished and will rely on handouts from close neighbors in the community who have previously provided groceries to his household. He completed his diploma, Btech, and postgraduate diploma in journalism before enrolling in Rhodes University's master's degree program.