Madeline Nyamwanza-Makonese

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. She graduated from the University of Rhodesia Medical School in 1970.

Background 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.

False scandal In 2014, 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. An extract from the Sunday Mail dated 24 August 2014 included a full apology.