Dr Mary Malahlela
Where does the story begin? No one knows. But a narrative goes something like this. In 1947 a young, hopeful yet intelligent, woman walks into a class of medicine filled with white, male students. She is about to be the first black woman to graduate and hold a degree in medicine. This happens in the year before the legalization of apartheid. This is monumental in a classic sense and for science because not only did she shake and redefine the colour and gender but the outlook and how we today refer to a doctor. A status not only reserved for white man but rather inclusive and defined by merit and competence. The story doesn’t end here. Although veiled from history and erased from our classroom, the story manifests in the kind of doctors we see today. The story is that of Dr Mary Malahlela and how she trail blazed, broke doors and rolled carpets for those that came after her.
Apartheid was a crime against humanity. One that sought to physically, economically and psychologically decapitate black people from actively participate in their right to self determination. In the midst of apartheid another exclusionary system existed - Patriarchy. What you end up is a double edged sword fashioned to systematically exclude black women and chaining them to just roles of servitude. As a black women you can’t exist beyond this prison. This is the kind of world that Dr Malahlela was born and raised in.
Dr Mary Malahlela was 02 May 1916 in modern day Polokwane, to a Christian convert Thadius Malahlela. She was cut from a different cloth, one that questioned authority. For example her father had to flee along with his family because he refused put his twins to death since it was considered a curse to father twins. This grounding and countless others enriched and influenced the kind of person Dr Malahlela set out to be. One of questioning power.
As a young girl Dr Malahlela was a student at the Methodist Primary School. Later she would enroll at the University of Fort Hare, the cream of black intelligentsia. Some of the greatest minds that shaped South Africa attended this university. There is little account of her activities at Fort Hare. Whether she participated in any political activities. Whether she interacted with some of the famous alumni that walked the corridors of UFH. But we can account for is her exploits in academics which were catalyst to ability to enroll at Wits University. Wits University was and still is a liberal university for the most part. Even in its liberal policies, doors were still shut for many especially black women. In 1941,after receiving support from the Native Trust Fund Dr Malahlela was able to register as a medical student at Wits University. She then completed her studies in 1947 and officially became the first black woman to qualify as a doctor in South Africa.
After completing her studies the laws of apartheid made it harder for her to practice. The regressive society didn’t help because many people still haboured thoughts of racism and sexism. Many didn’t want to be treated by a black woman. To overcome this and not work in a hospital Dr Malahlela started her practice. But even that came with a lot of challenges. One of the apartheid laws, The group areas act forbade “non whites” to open establishments in areas categorised as whites only. This law limited imagination and presence because you only afforded a particular space to exist. Come as it may, Dr Malahlela opened a practice in Dobsinville and started seeing patients there. Not only was she a practicing doctor but in that period she helped form YWCA, she was part of the Fort Hare University council and she was a chairperson of the Rooderpoort School Board.
Dr Malahlela transitioned in 1985 after a heart attack. Her legacy still lingers. It has found grounding in the new generation of doctors we have today.
