Mary Malahlela-Xakana (2 May 1916 – 8 May 1981)[1] was the first Black woman to register as a medical doctor in South Africa (in 1947).
[6] 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.
[9][10] Malahlele was a founding member of the YWCA in South Africa, and active in the peace and anti-apartheid movements.
She died in 1981, aged 65, after a heart attack, while volunteering with Nthato Motlana at the rural Witkoppen Clinic in Sandton, Johannesburg.
[12] In 2015, Malahlela-Xakana was posthumously awarded the Order of the Baobab for her pioneering medical career.