Southern Africa: In loving memory of Nothabo Sibanda
Youth and Gender Justice Advocate | Mother | Regional Leader | WOSSO Fellow
Johannesburg, 3 February: Gender Links and WOSSO are shocked and deeply saddened by the passing of Nothabo Sibanda, a fearless advocate, devoted mother, and a rising feminist leader whose life, though far too brief, exemplified extraordinary courage, compassion, and impact.
A Women of the South Speak Out (WOSSO) fellow (2024/2025), Nothabo’s advocacy focused on Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights, and on confronting the urgent challenge of teenage pregnancy in Matobo District, Matabeleland South, Zimbabwe.
Her advocacy plan, “She is a child, not a mother”, was not merely a campaign title, but a deeply held conviction. Nothabo believed, without compromise, that girls deserve choice, dignity, education, and futures free from harm, and she worked tirelessly to turn this belief into reality in some of the most under-resourced communities.
“Teenage pregnancy remains a critical challenge in Matobo District and poverty severely limits opportunities, pushing young girls towards early pregnancy and marriage as an escape route,” she said in her final fellowship report.
“Nothabo was a young woman with a bright future, and her loss has shaken us all,” said WOSSO manager Tabetha Kanengoni. “Gender Links and WOSSO are deeply crushed by this loss. We stand in solidarity with Notabo’s family, loved ones and fellow sisters during this painful bereavement.”
WOSSO, supported by the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Development Office (FCDO), provides opportunities for young women in the global south to develop and implement advocacy campaigns. Nothabo’s iconic rise during her two-year fellowship that ended in December 2025 reflects the very best of this programme’s intentions.
Through WOSSO, Nothabo travelled beyond her home province for the first time to participate in the SADC Heads of State Summit in Harare, marking her first engagement with high-level regional process. She actively participated in the Southern Africa Youth Forum (SAYoF).
Shortly thereafter, she travelled outside Zimbabwe for the first time to attend the African Women in Dialogue (AfWID) Forum in Johannesburg, an experience she described as transformative, one that sharpened her leadership, expanded her networks, and affirmed her place within regional feminist movements.
Her journey had its setbacks. A US visa rejection to attend the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) meeting in March 2024 could have discouraged many. Instead, Nothabo persevered, being selected as a Mandela Washington Fellow out of over 8000 applicants and spending three months at the University of Delaware: a powerful recognition of her leadership, resilience, and global potential.
On return, Nothabo secured a job as Regional Coordinator at Hlanganisa, supporting community-based organisations across Zimbabwe, Malawi, Eswatini, Zambia, and Lesotho. In this role, she mentored others, strengthened regional coordination, and embodied the feminist leadership principles she so deeply believed in.
Soon after, Nothabo won a prestigious Mandela Rhodes Scholarship. She was due to begin her Master’s degree at the University of Cape Town this very week.
Through the WOSSO Fellowship, Nothabo designed and implemented a community-centred advocacy approach grounded in trust, accountability, and inclusion. She conducted door-to-door stakeholder engagements, convened school and community-based SRHR dialogues, trained peer educators, collaborated closely with health service providers, and created safe spaces, both in person and online, where adolescents could speak honestly about their lived realities.
“The engagements created a platform for teenagers to discuss issues affecting them and suggest solutions amongst themselves. Young people were shy at first, but they are now beginning to open,” she said.
Her work strengthened relationships between communities, clinics, schools, and local leadership, laying the foundations for sustainability beyond the fellowship period. She went on to forge strategic partnerships with organisations including DREAMS and the Rotary Club of Newark (USA), securing tangible support that enabled girls to remain in school and access essential SRHR services.
“This fellowship has been life-changing. It put me in rooms that made me a better mentor to young girls and a more informed advocate,” she said during a keynote address at the WOSSO Southern Africa graduation in Antananarivo, Madagascar.
“The mark of a true feminist is to walk the talk personally, and professionally,” reflected GL co-founder and special advisor Colleen Lowe-Morna. “Nothabo did both, working through layers of patriarchy at every level, refusing to compromise her deeply held convictions. She joins GL sheroes on our website and in our conference room, where we will be inspired each day by what she stood for.”
Nothabo Sibanda’s life reminds us of both the power and the fragility of potential. In just a few short years, she rose from local advocacy to regional leadership, from her community in Matobo to continental and global spaces, always carrying with her the voices of girls who are too often unheard.
Her passing is a profound loss, to her family, to Ariella, to the WOSSO community, to feminist movements across the region, and to a future that needed her leadership. Yet her legacy endures in the girls she empowered, the systems she challenged, and the movements she strengthened.
We mourn her deeply.
We honour her fiercely.
And we commit ourselves to carrying forward the work she so bravely advanced.
Rest in power, Nothabo Sibanda!
Your courage, your love, and your leadership will never be forgotten.
(WOSSO programme officer Michelle Mutogo compiled this obituary with inputs from WOSSO Africa fellows)
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