Mary Malahlela

Mary Malahele-Xakana (2 May 1916 – 8 May 1981)[1] was the first black woman to register as a medical doctor in South Africa (in 1947). She was also a founding member of the Young Women’s Christian Association.[2][3]

Mary Susan Makobatjatji Malahlela-Xakana
Born(1916-05-02)2 May 1916
Pietersburg
Died8 May 1981(1981-05-08) (aged 65)
NationalitySouth African
Alma materUniversity of Fort Hare
University of the Witwatersrand
Known forFirst Black African woman medical doctor in South Africa
AwardsOrder of the Baobab
Scientific career
FieldsMedicine

Early life and education

Mary Susan Makobatjatji Malahlela was born in Pietersburg.[4] Her father was Thadius Chweu Malahlela, a Christian convert. Her father had been driven from his home for refusing to put his twin children to death, since twins were considered a curse.[5] As a girl she was a student at the Methodist Primary School in Juliwe, near Johannesburg. She attended the University of Fort Hare as an undergraduate, and in 1941 received support from the Native Trust Fund to study medicine at the University of Witwatersrand. 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 alumni.[6]

Career

In 1947, Malahlela graduated from medical school and registered as a medical doctor, the first black woman in South Africa to do so.[7] She opened a private medical practice in Kliptown, and a second in Mofolo South. After the Group Areas Act, she worked at the clinic in Dobsonville.[8][9]

Malahlele was a founding member of the YWCA 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.[5]

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 at the rural Witkoppen Clinic in Sandton, Johannesburg.[10]

A primary school in Dobsonville is named after Dr. Malahlela-Xakana.[11] In 2015, Malahlela-Xakana was posthumously awarded the Order of the Baobab for her pioneering medical career.[9][12]

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References
  1. Birth and death dates from "Dr Mary Susan Makobatjatji Malahlela (Posthumous)" Archived 27 January 2016 at the Wayback Machine, Order of the Baobab, Office of the Presidency, Government of South Africa; some sources give 1917 and 1982 instead.
  2. "Mary Susan Malahele-Xakana | South African History Online". Sahistory.org.za. Retrieved 22 March 2015.
  3. "The heroes of the South African women's struggle-Top Women". Businesswomen.co.za. Archived from the original on 3 August 2012. Retrieved 22 March 2015.
  4. Gail Nattrass, "Mary Susan Malahlela-Xakana" South African History Online.
  5. Women Marching Into the 21st Century: Wathint' Abafazi, Wathint' Imbokodo. HSRC Press. 2000. pp. 202–. ISBN 978-0-7969-1966-3.
  6. "Wits Med School honours first black woman graduate from 1947". News24. Retrieved 19 January 2016.
  7. Anne Digby, "Black Doctors and Discrimination under South Africa’s Apartheid Regime", Medical History 57(2)(April 2013): 269-290. doi: 10.1017/mdh.2012.106.
  8. Mpho Raborife, "Wits Med School Honours First Black Woman Graduate from 1947" News24, 12 June 2015.
  9. "Dr Mary Susan Makobatjatji Malahlela (Posthumous)" Archived 27 January 2016 at the Wayback Machine, Order of the Baobab, Office of the Presidency, Government of South Africa.
  10. "Mary Susan Malahlela-Xakana", in Women Marching Into the 21st Century: Wathint' Abafazi, Wathint' Imbokodo (HSRC Press, 2000): 2022–03. ISBN 9780796919663.
  11. Dr. Mary Malahlela Primary School, Dobsonville, Soweto, Gauteng, South Africa.
  12. "Pics: Zuma Bestows National Orders" IOL: Independent Online, 8 December 2015.
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