Bobby Shabangu

Bobby Michael Shabangu
Bobby Shabangu
Born
Bobby Michael Shabangu

Mpumalanga, South Africa
NationalitySouth African
EducationUniversity of South Africa
Occupation(s)Wikimedian, community organiser
Known forPresident of Wikimedia South Africa; advocacy for African languages on Wikipedia

Bobby Michael Shabangu is a South African Wikimedian, community organiser and activist for linguistic diversity on Wikimedia projects. He has served as president of Wikimedia South Africa and is known for promoting content in South African languages and organising outreach and training events across the region.[1][2]

Early life and background

Bobby Shabangu was born and raised in a rural village in Mpumalanga province, eastern South Africa. His mother tongue is Siswati (Swati), but he also speaks Afrikaans, English, Tswana, and Bahasa Indonesia, having studied the latter in Indonesia for two years. He first encountered Wikipedia in 2011 while researching for a Swati-language radio programme, introduced to editing by fellow Wikipedian Dumisani Ndubane.[3] By late 2012, he was actively editing both the Siswati and English Wikipedias, motivated by a belief that “if I don’t edit, no one will edit.”[4]

Career

Outside of Wikipedia, Bobby has worked as a communications specialist.[5] He studied communications and earned a Bachelor of Science degree through the University of South Africa. He has held roles in South African institutions and non-profit organisations, most notably serving as a communications professional for the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in South Africa.[6] In that capacity he was involved in public affairs and media relations for UNDP projects.

Bobby's career as a Wikimedia volunteer and organiser has focused on increasing coverage of South African topics and promoting smaller and under-represented languages on Wikipedia. He has been a lead or active participant in a number of outreach initiatives, edit-a-thons and partnerships with educational and cultural institutions across South Africa and the wider African region.[1]

In interviews and recent media profiles he has described his work training students and community members to contribute to Wikipedia, and advocating for greater linguistic representation and capacity building within the Wikimedia movement in Africa.[7][8]

Bobby has been involved in regional and international Wikimedia events (including WikiIndaba and Wikimania), and took part in public conversations about digital inclusion and skills development for African editors.[9][10]

Wikimedia movement

Bobby edits multiple language editions of Wikipedia (including English, Siswati, isiZulu, isiXhosa and Tswana), and contributes to Wikimedia Commons and Wikidata. He has worked on topics ranging from local histories to language development and has participated in movement consultations such as discussions around the Universal Code of Conduct.[2][4]

Bobby has been active in community projects and events. He volunteers with Jo’burgpediA, a Wikimedia South Africa initiative to improve coverage of Johannesburg. In this project, he helps organize editing events with local institutions and encourages students to contribute information in their native languages.[3]

He also leads educational outreach: as of the early 2020s he heads the SWiP project, taking Wikipedia training into universities nationwide to teach scholars and students how to edit and to raise awareness of gaps in African content.[2] Through SWiP and similar efforts, he has helped generate hundreds of new Wikipedia articles in underrepresented languages. For instance, at an isiNdebele Wikipedia workshop in 2024, Bobby noted that “a total of 65 articles emerged from the two-day workshop… indicating that a language that has long been overlooked is yearning for recognition.”[11] Through SWiP, isiNdebele was able to come out of the incubator.

Bobby has been quoted in national media, such as Bloem Express, emphasising the chapter’s commitment to enhancing representation of South African languages on Wikipedia.[12] He has been involved in initiatives to close the gender gap on Wikipedia. Speaking to Africa-Press Rwanda in 2022, he highlighted partnerships with women’s organisations to encourage articles about South African women.[13] In a Women’s Month op-ed for IOL, he pointed out that fewer than 20% of Wikipedia editors are women, with only 18.3% of content about women, and called for active measures to address this imbalance.[14]

Leadership and recognition

Bobby has served in leadership roles within Wikimedia South Africa (Wikimedia ZA), including as the chapter's president. He advocates for African languages and community-building work.[15][16]

He stood as a community candidate in the Wikimedia Foundation 2024 Board of Trustees election and published a candidate statement and video as part of that campaign.[2][17]

Selected media coverage

  • Wikimedia Foundation — profile story on Shabangu's multilingual editing and outreach work.[1]
  • PrimediaPlus — feature: "How Bobby Shabangu is representing Africa on Wikipedia" (Aug 7, 2025).[7]
  • Radio 702 / Omny — interview: "South African Wikipedia leader bringing linguistic diversity to Wikipedia" (Aug 2025).[8]
  • KBC Digital — coverage of calls to increase African contributions to Wikipedia (Aug 2025).[10]
  • Diff (Wikimedia movement blog) — interview about the Universal Code of Conduct and community organising (2020).[4]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c "Bobby Shabangu". Wikimedia Foundation. Retrieved 11 August 2025.
  2. ^ a b c d "Wikimedia Foundation elections/2024/Candidates/Bobby Shabangu". Meta-Wikimedia. Retrieved 11 August 2025.
  3. ^ a b "Wikipedia 15". annual.wikimedia.org. Retrieved 2025-08-11.
  4. ^ a b c "Universal Code of Conduct thoughts with Wikipedian and community organizer Bobby Shabangu". Diff (Wikimedia blog). 13 August 2020. Retrieved 11 August 2025.
  5. ^ https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Bobby-Shabangu
  6. ^ "UNDP and IEC sign project agreement to partner for support to the electoral commission of south Africa". UNDP. Archived from the original on 2025-03-24. Retrieved 2025-08-11.
  7. ^ a b "How Bobby Shabangu is representing Africa on Wikipedia". PrimediaPlus. 7 August 2025. Retrieved 11 August 2025.
  8. ^ a b "South African Wikipedia leader bringing linguistic diversity to ..." 702 (Omny). 7 August 2025. Retrieved 11 August 2025.
  9. ^ "WikiIndaba 2024". YouTube / SABC News. 2024. Retrieved 11 August 2025.
  10. ^ a b "More Africans challenged to contribute on Wikipedia". KBC Digital. 9 August 2025. Retrieved 11 August 2025.
  11. ^ "UMP - FIRST DIGITAL ISINDEBELE ON WIKIPEDIA". www.ump.ac.za. Retrieved 2025-08-13.
  12. ^ Express, Bloem (2024-07-31). "Mother tongues swiftly going digital". Bloem Express. Retrieved 2025-08-14.
  13. ^ cfeditoren (2022-11-05). "Wikimedians to increase visibility of women in World's largest encyclopedia". Rwanda. Retrieved 2025-08-14.
  14. ^ Opinion (1976-09-24). "Bridging gender gaps in enhancing women empowerment". IOL. Retrieved 2025-08-14.
  15. ^ "Wikimedia South Africa/Media". Meta-Wikimedia. Retrieved 11 August 2025.
  16. ^ "Bobby Shabangu". Herri. Retrieved 11 August 2025.
  17. ^ "Bobby Shabangu campaign statement". Wikimedia Commons. Retrieved 11 August 2025.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.