Stella Madzimbamuto

Stella Madzimbamuto (13 April 1930 – 30 June 2020) was a South African-born Zimbabwean nurse and plaintiff in the landmark legal case of Madzimbamuto v Lardner-Burke.

Born as Stella Nkolombe in District Six of Cape Town in 1930, she trained as a nurse at South Africa's first hospital to treat black Africans, earning a general nursing and a midwifery certification.

After working for three years at Ladysmith Provincial Hospital, she married a Southern Rhodesian and relocated.

Stella Nkolombe was born on 13 April 1930 in District Six of Cape Town, in the Union of South Africa to Fleecy (née Gwiba) and Enoch Nkolombe, both of Xhosa ancestry.

Her mother, descended from the Nyauza-Mpondo clan, was a domestic worker and her father, descended from the Gqwashu clan, worked as a deliveryman for John William Jagger's wholesaling company.

Nkolombe was the sixth child of eleven siblings and grew up speaking Xhosa.

Her parents chose to live in the city so that their children had access to education and would be able to be fluent in both Afrikaans and English.

Nkolombe completed her compulsory nine years of education, attending St. Philips English Church School for her primary education and then Trafalgar High School for secondary school.

In 1946, she left school to allow her younger siblings an opportunity for schooling.

After leaving school in 1946, Nkolombe worked as a domestic in Sea Point, but found the job unfulfilling.

A neighbour had a child who had cerebral palsy and she helped with his care.

That experience led her to choose a career in nursing over teaching, which was the only other option available to her at the time.

In 1948, Nkolombe moved to Durban and enrolled in general nursing courses offered by McCord Zulu Hospital, which pioneered the treatment of Africans, training of black nurses, and education for black doctors in South Africa.

Three years later, upon completion of her general certification, she completed a course in midwifery, earning her certification with honours.

Because of limited job choices available for blacks in Cape Town, Nkolombe returned there only to show her parents her uniform.

In 1953, after taking up a post at the Ladysmith Provincial Hospital in Ladysmith, Natal, Nkolombe debated whether to continue working or to return to school to further her education.

During this time she met Daniel Madzimbamuto, who was working in Durban to create interest in the Boswell Wilkie Circus, but was originally from Southern Rhodesia.

From 1956 to 1959, she worked as a general nurse at the Harare Central Hospital.

Though her parents were not keen on them marrying, in early 1956, she and Daniel married and Madzimbamuto moved to Murehwa, a small rural township near Salisbury (now Harare).

As Daniel was still working in South Africa, Madzimbamuto journeyed alone by train to meet her in-laws.

In July 1956, she gave birth to their oldest child, Farai, at the Harare Central Hospital, known at the time as the Gomo Hospital.

When she was admitted, she encountered alumni nurses from McCord Zulu Hospital, who urged her to return to nursing because of the severe shortage at that time in Southern Rhodesia, partly because there were no facilities to train nurses.

Believing it was impossible to work and care for a baby, Madzimbamuto returned to Murehwa, but the matron, Grace Houston, tracked her down and offered her a post, allowing her to bring the baby to work.

Matron Houston also assisted her in obtaining housing in New Highfield, which had only outdoor toilet facilities that doubled as a cold-water shower.

When Farai was seven months old, Daniel returned to Southern Rhodesia and became involved in the Black nationalist movement.

He became the chairman of the Highfield Branch of the African National Congress and his activism brought him to the attention of the Rhodesian authorities.

Their second child, a daughter named Chipo, was born after Daniel's return and was six months old when he was first arrested.

In 1959, her husband, Daniel Madzimbamuto, was detained as a political prisoner.

From 1960, Madzimbamuto worked as the nurse in charge of Ward B6, the Spinal and Head Injuries Unit, of Harare Hospital.

She was trained by the only Africa-based neurosurgeon at the time, British physician Laurence Levy.

He arranged for her to study abroad at Stoke-Mandeville National Spinal Injuries Centre in Buckinghamshire and the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery in Queen Square, London, earning certifications in the treatment of neurological and spinal injuries.

Upon her return to Rhodesia, in 1965, she developed a curriculum based on her studies to train junior nurses.

In 1965, Madzimbamuto challenged the detainment of her husband in a lawsuit, maintaining that if the government of Rhodesia, which had declared independence from Britain, was illegal, then the detention orders the government had issued were invalid.

Her case was defeated in the Rhodesian courts, but she appealed to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council, which was the highest court for many Commonwealth countries, including Rhodesia.

The Judicial Committee reversed the decision of the High Court of Rhodesia.

It declared the Rhodesian government to be illegal, laws and proclamations issued by it to be invalid, and ordered Madzimbamuto's husband to be released.

The Rhodesian government ignored the decision, but it has become a landmark decision regarding the issue of state sovereignty.

He would remain in detention until 1974, while she financially supported the family.

She worked as the lead nurse in Ward B6 until 1982.

That year, she became the night matron of Harare Hospital and served in this role until her retirement in 1995.