Madeline Nyamwanza-Makonese is the first Zimbabwean female doctor, the second African woman to become a doctor, and the first African woman to graduate from the University of Rhodesia Medical School. [1] [2] She graduated from the University of Rhodesia Medical School in 1970. [2] Madeline's success is significant and was a huge step forward for women in Zimbabwe, where women are considered culturally unequal to men. [3]
She was the seventh child in a family of nine. She was born at St Augustine Mission, Penhalonga where her father worked at the mission farm. [4]
In 2014, there was a scandal as it was alleged that Madeline's husband, Deputy board chairman Eben Makonese of the medical aid society Cimas Medical Aid Society, influenced the appointment of his unqualified brother-in-law as the group's director of medical services. [5] An extract from the Sunday Mail dated 24 August 2014 highlighted: