Nabeelah Shaikh

Nabeelah Shaikh died on Saturday 14 November 2026 at the age of 34. Her death was announced in a Janazah notice issued by the Central Islamic Trust and confirmed by eNCA. The cause and circumstances of her death have not been made public, and the place of death has not been reported. She was seven months pregnant with her second child, according to The Witness.

Tributes came from IOL chief executive Viasen Soobramoney, IOL content manager Jolene Marriah-Maharaj, former editor Akash Bramdeo, Yusuf Abramjee, Ashraf Garda, Nic Andersen, Wardah Wilkinson, Nivashni Nair Sukdhev, Jayed-Leigh Paulse and her former lecturer Robin Sewlal, among many others.

Nabeelah Shaikh was born and raised in Tongaat, a town on the KwaZulu-Natal north coast near Durban, South Africa. She was the daughter of Zafarullah and Rashida Bibi Shaikh and had brothers. Her exact date of birth has not been made public; reports gave her age as 34 when she died in November 2026.

She told Salaamedia in 2021 that she had been fascinated by newsreaders on radio and television as a little girl, and that while other children said they wanted to be doctors, she always wanted to be a journalist.

Shaikh studied journalism at the Durban University of Technology (DUT). It was there, she said, that she developed her interest in investigative journalism. Her former DUT lecturer Robin Sewlal was among those who paid tribute after her death, writing that she had gone "far too young".

Shaikh began her career around 2013 as a multimedia journalist at Independent Newspapers, reporting for the Sunday Tribune in Durban. In March 2015 the paper published her investigation "Isis wants you: how we cracked the secret route", which involved contacting South Africans who claimed to be fighting for the Islamic State group. The work attracted threats and community criticism, and it earned her regional recognition in the Editor's Choice category of the Vodacom Journalist of the Year Awards at the age of 23.

She moved into broadcasting as a reporter for eTV News (etv), and also worked as a senior producer at Seen.tv and Hashtag Our Stories, reporting for Seen from Durban in 2024. In mid 2025 she joined eNCA in Johannesburg. There she covered gang violence in Westbury and Eldorado Park, the removal of more than 70 children from abusive homes in Eldorado Park, Johannesburg's water and refuse crises, evictions, corruption cases and the killings of women in Ekurhuleni. In late October 2026 she fronted an eNCA investigation into around 40 stalled housing projects in the City of Ekurhuleni and reported on the court appearance of Andrea Johnson and Feroz Khan. At the time of her death she was described as an investigative reporter at eNCA.

Shaikh was married to Waseem Ally and was the mother of a daughter, Maahira Shaikh. Less than two weeks before she died she announced that she was expecting her second child. The Witness reported that she was seven months pregnant at the time of her death. She was a practising Muslim, and her death was announced through a Janazah notice from the Central Islamic Trust. Friends remembered her warmth, her kindness and, in the words of journalist Nivashni Nair Sukdhev, her "great Chana Magaj".

Shaikh described journalism as more than a glamorous profession, saying it was about making a meaningful contribution to humanity through reporting. In a 2021 interview she said journalists must develop a thick skin, earn the trust of the people they report on, adapt to new tools such as mobile video, and pursue objectivity at all times. She encouraged young journalists not to be afraid to follow their passion and to see broadcasting as a way to be a voice for the voiceless.

Colleagues remembered Shaikh as a fearless, committed reporter who gave a voice to victims and their families, from gang violence in Westbury to the killings of women in Ekurhuleni. Her former editor Akash Bramdeo said that "journalism has lost a shining star". Her death at 34 was described by IOL as a loss to the South African journalism fraternity.

Shaikh was described as a multi-award-winning journalist. Her best documented honour is regional recognition in the Editor's Choice category of the Vodacom Journalist of the Year Awards for her Sunday Tribune investigations, including the 2015 Islamic State recruitment story. The Witness dates the award to 2015, when she was 23; Akash Bramdeo recalled it as the 2016 competition. In 2021 Salaamedia featured her in its Ramadan series Tribute to Muslim Broadcasters in South Africa.