Mary Malahlela-Xakana (2 May 1916 – 8 May 1981) was the first black woman to register as a medical doctor in
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...
(in 1947). She was also a founding member of the
Young Women’s Christian Association : ''For other uses, including specific buildings and chapters, see Young Women's Christian Association (disambiguation).''
YWCA USA is a nonprofit organization dedicated to eliminating racism, empowering women, and promoting peace, justice, freedo ...
.
Early life and education
Mary Susan Makobatjatji Malahlela was born in
. Her father was Thadius Chweu Malahlela, a Christian convert. Her father had been driven from his home for refusing to put his
twin
Twins are two offspring produced by the same pregnancy.MedicineNet > Definition of TwinLast Editorial Review: 19 June 2000 Twins can be either ''monozygotic'' ('identical'), meaning that they develop from one zygote, which splits and forms two em ...
children to death, since twins were considered a curse.
As a girl she was a student at the Methodist Primary School in Juliwe, near
Johannesburg
Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a megacity, and is one of the 100 largest urban areas in the world. According to Demo ...
. She attended the
University of Fort Hare
The University of Fort Hare is a public university in Alice, Eastern Cape, South Africa.
It was a key institution of higher education for Africans from 1916 to 1959 when it offered a Western-style academic education to students from across sub ...
as an undergraduate, and in 1941 received support from the Native Trust Fund to study medicine at the
University of Witwatersrand
The University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg (), is a multi-campus South African public research university situated in the northern areas of central Johannesburg. It is more commonly known as Wits University or Wits ( or ). The university ...
. In 2015 the University of Witwatersrand erected a plaque on its grounds as a memorial to Dr Malahlela and as a way to redress the
historical diminution of native
black
Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white have o ...
alumni
Alumni (singular: alumnus (masculine) or alumna (feminine)) are former students of a school, college, or university who have either attended or graduated in some fashion from the institution. The feminine plural alumnae is sometimes used for grou ...
.
Career
In 1947, Malahlela graduated from medical school and registered as a medical doctor, the first black woman in South Africa to do so. She opened a private medical practice in
Kliptown
Kliptown is a suburb of the formerly black township of Soweto in Gauteng, South Africa, located about 17 km south-west of Johannesburg. Kliptown is the oldest residential district of Soweto, and was first laid out in 1891 on land which form ...
, and a second in Mofolo South. After the
Group Areas Act
Group Areas Act was the title of three acts of the Parliament of South Africa enacted under the apartheid government of South Africa. The acts assigned racial groups to different residential and business sections in urban areas in a system of u ...
, she worked at the clinic in
Dobsonville
Dobsonville is an suburb in Soweto.
Description
The first shopping centre in Soweto, Dobsonville Shopping Centre, is located in Dobsonville. It has many small suburbs within it, namely extensions 1, 2 and 3, Mmesi Park, Snake Park (Thulani) and m ...
.
["Dr Mary Susan Makobatjatji Malahlela (Posthumous)"](_blank)
, Order of the Baobab, Office of the Presidency, Government of South Africa.
Malahlele was a founding member of the
YWCA
The Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA) is a nonprofit organization with a focus on empowerment, leadership, and rights of women, young women, and girls in more than 100 countries.
The World office is currently based in Geneva, Swi ...
in South Africa, and active in the peace and
anti-apartheid movements. She was a member of the Women's Peace Movement, a member of the Fort Hare University Council, and a chairwoman of the Roodepoort School Board.
Personal life
Mary Malahlela married and had two daughters. She died in 1981, aged 65, after a heart attack, while volunteering with Dr.
Nthato Motlana
Dr. Nthato Harrison Motlana (16 Feb 1925 – 1 December 2008) was a prominent South African businessman, physician and anti-apartheid activist.
Early life
He was born in Marapyane close to Pretoria. He attended and matriculated at Kilnerton Hi ...
at the rural Witkoppen Clinic in
Sandton
Sandton is an upscale commercial and residential district north of the city of Johannesburg, South Africa. It forms part of the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality. The name of the city came from the combination of two of its suburbs, ...
, Johannesburg.
A primary school in Dobsonville is named after Dr. Malahlela-Xakana. In 2015, Malahlela-Xakana was posthumously awarded the
Order of the Baobab
The Order of the Baobab is a South African civilian national honour, awarded to those for service in business and the economy; science, medicine, and for technological innovation; and community service. It was instituted on 6 December 2002, and i ...
for her pioneering medical career.
''IOL: Independent Online'', 8 December 2015.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Malahele-Xakana, Mary
20th-century South African physicians
South African women physicians
South African physicians
1916 births
1981 deaths
Order of the Baobab
University of the Witwatersrand alumni
University of Fort Hare alumni