WE ALL HAVE A PURPOSE: DR PAY SHABANGU ON HIS PATH TO EARNING HIS PHD IN STRATEGIC COMMUNICATION
PUTTING EFFORT IN WHATEVER YOU DO IS ALSO IMPORTANT BECAUSE YOU MIGHT NOT BE RECOGNISED WHERE YOU ARE CURRENTLY, BUT SOMEONE ELSE ON THE SIDE COULD BE NOTICING YOUR EFFORT.
Dr Pay Shabangu always knew that he would have an illustrious career with hard work, dedication and commitment. Born in Ethandukukhanya, a township outside Piet Retief, in the south of the Mpumalanga province, on the border of Swaziland and KwaZulu-Natal, he had dreams as a young boy and always told himself he would work hard towards them. He grew up, however, in Ncotshane, a township outside OPhongolo in KwaZulu-Natal, and this is where his academic journey started. He did his Grade 1 at Mgazini Lower Primary School, then proceeded to Ncotshane Higher Primary and finally to OPhongolo High School. He then progressed to the Durban University of Technology, where he completed his National Diploma in Journalism. So, his home is in Piet Retief, but he is from Phongola. “I then enrolled at the University of South Africa (UNISA) in 2008 for a BA in Public Administration and graduated in 2012. In 2014 I graduated with a BA Honours in Integrated Organisational Communication and in 2014 I graduated with a BA in Policy Studies.” Dr Shabangu’s journey at UJ commenced in 2015, where he enrolled for a Master’s degree in Strategic Communication, and he graduated in October 2017. In 2019 he started with his PhD in Strategic Communication, which he received in 2022. “These qualifications have helped me as a professional to master my craft. It is now simpler to execute strategic tasks in the field. These include editing big documents, preparing communication plans and overseeing development of such plans,” he said. Fortunately for Dr Shabangu, he was already working when he joined UJ. He worked for the SABC as a Television News Reporter during the 2006 Local Government Elections in Durban. He then moved to Johannesburg in 2007, to work for the Gauteng Department of Public Transport Roads and Works as a Publications and Digital Communication Specialist. “I have been serving the Gauteng Department of Cooperative Governance (CoGTA) as a Deputy-Director, for the past ten years now, responsible for publications, website, intranet and social media content. As a communication professional, I wanted to serve the Gauteng Provincial Government to contribute to the community engagement work of the government and grow myself as a professional,” he added. In his PhD thesis, he investigated local government collective bargaining conflicts in the Gauteng province. His study proposed a strategic communication framework that can be adopted to minimise conflicts in the sector’s collective bargaining. “The local government strikes used to, and still do, distract a lot of the community’s basic needs such as provision of water,
electricity, collection of garbage and keeping cities clean. That inspired me to have a scientific look at the nature of the problem with an aim of proposing a solution,” said Dr Shabangu. He said he had a good working relationship with his supervisors, and didn’t experience many challenges because of the hard work that he puts in. “One important thing to note is that we discussed my thesis’ overall outlook and my supervisors’ expectations before my PhD journey commenced. That made my work with supervisors easier and straightforward.” As someone who has contributed to and is in the public sector communication space, Dr Shabangu said it is important that the field be treated as a profession. “I am saying this because whenever the employees are in excess in an organisation, Communication in most instances becomes a dumping site. So, there is no thinking yet that people need to have a certain level of skills before dropping them in Communication,” he said. He shared that he is currently doing research work as he is serving UJ as a Research Associate. “I have recently submitted an article on Artificial Intelligence in Strategic Communication that has been accepted. I have also submitted a book chapter for consideration. I am also doing a Master of Business Administration with Henley Business School to prepare myself for a role as a corporate executive in the near future.” His advice to students who look to walk the path he has taken and aspire to be where he is: “It is important to be goal-driven, because that shapes your attitude towards issues of life. Putting effort in whatever you do is also important because you might not be recognised where you are currently, but someone else on the side could be noticing your effort. Academic performance requires some form of discipline, questioning and good listening skills. So, anyone who wants to achieve a PhD needs to have or develop those skills,” said Dr Shabangu.
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