MEET DR. THANDI
Executive Chair: Dr. Cynthia Thandi Ndlovu
Dr. THANDI NDLOVU was born in the sprawling townships of Soweto and schooled at Orlando High School. She obtained academic excellence and participated in various student organizations, including the Student's Christian Movement – of which she was a Founder Member. At the height of the Soweto Student's Uprising in 1976 she was serving as the Administrative Secretary of the Student's Representative Council (SRC) at the University of Fort Hare. She was forced to abandon her Bachelor of Science (BSc) degree as a direct result of the oppression that followed. She spent the next couple of years in training within the ranks of Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK) – the African National Congress (ANC) Military Wing. In 1976 she was part of the contingent of MK cadres who were posted to Novo Catengue a military training camp in the South of Angola. She served within MK as a Senior Political Commissioner, charged with running a Literacy and Education Programme - among the one-thousand odd new MK recruits. She also served as a Commander. Although, at that point, not medically trained, she was appointed a Medical Officer, working under the guidance of the Chief Medical Officer responsible for overseeing the health needs of the soldiers.
In 1978 she was sent to the then Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) for further training. Upon completion, she was sent in 1979, to the ANC headquarters in Lusaka, served the ANC in various capacities, including Administrative Secretary of the Women's Section. In 1984 she enrolled with the University of Zambia, completing a BSc (Human Biology) and MBchB degrees.
Upon returning to South Africa after the un-banning of political movements and the return of exiles, she ran a private medical practice in Orange Farm, an informal settlement South of Johannesburg, for five years. Dr Thandi was the Sole Private Practitioner, and delivered medical services covering a population of over 200 000 people.
What began as a hobby saw her create Motheo Construction in 1997. Dr. Ndlovu is currently the immediate past president of the Black Business Council for the Built Environment (BBEBE).
Amongst her most celebrated achievements are reaching the summits of Mount Kenya (the second highest mountain on the African continent) in August of 2011 and reaching the highest peak on the African continent – Uhuru Peak on Mount Kilimanjaro - on the 1st of September 2012. Dr. Thandi has also reached the summit of Base Camp Annapurna in 2014 and the Summit of Kilimanjaro again in 2015.
Dr. Ndlovu is the 2013 winner of the Business Women of the Year Award in the Entrepreneurs Category, as awarded by the Business Women Association of South Africa.
