David Sibeko

Who was David Sibeko?

David Bambatha Maphgumzana Sibeko, was known as the "Malcolm X of South Africa" and began his political career as a journalist for the black South African Magazine Drum. During his tenure with that magazine, he became a leading figure within the Pan Africanist Congress of Azania. During the 1970s he headed the United Nations Observer Mission of the Pan Africanist Congress in New York City and used this position to popularize the PAC particularly among African-Americans. In 1979 Sibeko was partially successful in a leadership coup against Potlako Leballo. However he failed to get support from the Second Azanian People's Liberation Army, recruited from the 1976 student protest generation and was shot dead during an argument with them at his flat in Oyster Bay, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania on 12 June 1979.

David Sibeko's contribution to the liberation struggle in South Africa unfortunately is little known. In actuality his influence was pervasive and, some would argue, on par with that of Nelson Mandela. Sibeko adroitly used his position as the head of the PAC Observer Mission at the United Nations as a way to unite diverse sectors of the international black community behind the PAC.