Bhekisisa Mncube Short Biography

Mncube is a qualified journalist, columnist and media relations/PR specialist. He is

versatile writer and an innovative communicator.

Writing

He has a total of 13 years professional writing and publishing experience. He has

written news-articles, thought-leadership articles, opinion pieces, film reviews,
book reviews, feature articles, business/political profiles, product reviews, web
content, speeches and press releases.

He has written extensively for the South African press including articles in The
Witness, Weekend Witness, Politicsweb, The Mirror, The Witness Echo, Echo
Edendale, Echo Mpumalanga, Echo Maritzburg, ANC Today, The Mercury, Public
Eye, Sunday Tribune, Independent on Saturday, Daily News, Bona Magazine, The
New Age and The Sunday World.

He is an Expert Author at EzineArticles.com – A Peer-Reviewed Articles &

Marketing Writers’ ejournal (USA).

He is a regular contributor to the Marketing & Media South Africa website

http://www.bizcommunity.com.

He was until his recent appointment a KwaZulu-Natal Political Correspondent for

the South African Government News Agency – doing both news writing and radio
reporting for the GCIS Radio:
http://www.sanews.gov.za/search/site/Bhekisisa%20Mncube and also a Business
Correspondent for the Sunday Tribune Business.

He has written a column (since 2001) for The Witness Echo entitled “Notes from
Grave No 2,” touching primarily on the contradictions brought about by change in
South Africa. The column was rebranded, “On the High Road” in 2011.

He blogs on http://kunjalo.co.za/, http://journalismiziko.dut.ac.za/ and runs his

own blog in his website, http://www.b74.co.za/b74-blog
Career path

In his industrious career spanning over a decade, he has held the following
positions: Communications Trainee at the Centre for Public Participation, freelance
reporter at the Sunday World, a senior political reporter at the Witness/Weekend
Witness newspaper, a public relations officer at MTN, a media liaison officer at the
KwaZulu-Natal Legislature, a writer/media liaison officer at the University of
KwaZulu-Natal, a media liaison and public relations senior manager at the
KwaZulu-Natal Ministries for Corporative Governance & Traditional Affairs, and
Transport, Community Safety and Liaison.

Qualifications

Mncube holds qualifications in International English (certificate) from the

University of Cambridge, a Graduate BTech Degree and National Diploma in
Journalism from the Durban University of Technology. He also holds specialists’
certificates in Marketing, Advertising, and Media Management from the Institute
of Marketing Management (IMM) and the Institute for the Advancement of
Journalism (IAJ) respectively.

Zest for knowledge

He is currently a Journalism MTech candidate at the Durban University of

Technology – his research area is on the political economy of the South African
media.

Political Analysis

He is a resident political analyst on Gagasi99.5 FM since 2011. He has featured as

a Communications Expert on Media@SAFM (2013), Lotus FM (2011), and as
political analyst on Power FM 98.7 (2013), Inanda 88.4 FM (2013), Business Day
(2013), Isolezwe (2012-2013), The Times (2012), Radio Junto (2013), Maritzburg
Fever (2013) and Sunday Tribune (2012-2013). He is also listed as a preferred KZN
political analyst by the Al Jazeera English – Johannesburg Bureau, (2012).

Academic publishing
Mncube has also published in the following prestigious academic journals:

 Passages: A Chronicle of the African Humanities, a journal of the University

of Michigan, USA.
 New Agenda: South African journal of social and economic policy.
 Zuidelijk Afrika: Dutch Journal of Southern African Studies.

Public Relations

He has a total of 14 years (nine years direct formal experience) and (five years
informal) in media liaison and public relations. During the formal nine years, he
has developed media relations/PR plans, media monitoring, convened and chaired
media conferences, conducted media interviews, developed PR strategies, and
PR/Marketing campaigns.

SEO

In 2011, he broadened his professional horizons to include Search Engine

Optimization (SEO) and website content writing. He completed over 100 SEO
articles (totaling 117000 words) for various international clients in the US, India
and Bangladesh to name just a few. These (articles) have been approved by his
clients and are currently uploaded on their websites. Mncube’s articles pass both
the copyscape and grammar tests. He is a regular user of new media such as
Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook and WhatsApp.

Languages

Mncube’s mother tongue language is isiZulu. English has been his home language
since 2001. He did English first language at the then Technikon Natal (now Durban
University of Technology), and third language isiXhosa at UNISA, and Afrikaans at
high school level.

Resignations

Mncube has resigned in all his previous engagements including taking an indefinite leave
from his company, B74 Media Lab, the South African Government News Agency,
Correspondent for the Tribune Business and as a resident political analyst on Gagasi 99.5
FM and other media platforms.