Celebrating Three Generations Of Women Who Heal, Lead & Inspire
In every corner of South Africa, women doctors are healing bodies, uplifting communities, shaping policy, building businesses, and most importantly, building resilient economies from the inside out. This Women’s Month, under the national theme “Building Resilient Economies for All,” the South African Medical and Dental Practitioners (SAMDP) honours three extraordinary women members across three generations, their 40s, 50s, and 60s, who are living proof that medicine is more than a profession. It is a calling, a mission, and a vehicle for transformation.
Through their stories, we witness a powerful intergenerational narrative of purpose-driven leadership. In their 40s, we see the bold strides of women driving innovation, advocacy, and women’s health in the digital age. In their 50s, servant leadership takes centre stage — a quiet strength that mentors peers and amplifies the voices of solo practitioners. And in their 60s, the legacy deepens, with women nurturing communities through decades of grassroots service, compassion, and selfless care.
Their voices are powerful. Their paths are distinct. But their message is the same: Young women doctors, your time is now. If you’re an intern, student, or early-career practitioner looking for mentorship, a network, or a home where your voice matters, SAMDP is where you belong. As a member, you don’t just gain access to CPD workshops, career opportunities, and practice support, you gain a sisterhood, a platform, and a movement.
SAMDP is a community of changemakers, advocates, and visionaries — working tirelessly to protect practitioners, grow careers, and deliver healthcare that transforms lives. This is a space where your leadership can thrive, your voice can influence, and your purpose can take root.
Let these stories light the path ahead. Let them stir your courage. Let them remind you: You are not alone. You are part of something greater.
Leading With Purpose: A Vision For A Healthier South Africa: Dr. Tshegofatso Gopane (40s)
Resilience, Reinvention, and the Power of Women-Led Systems come to life in the story of Dr. Tshegofatso Gopane, a woman who has not only answered the call to medicine but expanded its definition entirely. As a medical doctor, strategist, and health-tech entrepreneur, she represents a generation of women who are no longer waiting to be included in systems, they are building their own.
“Women belong in all places where decisions are being made,” as the late Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a lifelong advocate for gender equality once said. Few embody this truth more powerfully than Dr. Tshegofatso Gopane, who has spent over two decades not just practicing medicine, but reshaping healthcare itself, from grassroots care to national policy reform and digital innovation in women’s health.
Her story is not just about titles or roles. It’s about audacity, vision and a refusal to wait for systems to change, instead, building new ones that reflect equity, care, and innovation.
Her most groundbreaking contribution is as Founder and CEO of Tshela Healthcare, a company she built from the ground up in 2010. From health-risk management to occupational health, Tshela has become a trusted name in both the medical aid and mining industries, known for solutions that are agile, evidence-based, and deeply human. Her latest innovation, Femi Health, is a digital platform designed to walk with women through every stage of life, from menstruation to menopause. With its telecare, mental health support, and community networks, Femi Health is more than a health tool, it’s a lifeline for women seeking personalised, accessible care. “As women, we are not just participants in healthcare, we are architects of its future,”says Gopane.
Dr. Gopane joined SAMDP in 2017, drawn by its bold vision and commitment to inclusivity. As the Chair of the National Health Insurance Subcommittee for the South African Medical and Dental Practitioners (SAMDP), Dr. Gopane leads with conviction, ensuring that the voice of the historically excluded is central in shaping South Africa’s healthcare policy. Her leadership spans several national boards, including the Health Professions Council of South Africa and the Black Business Council, where she doesn’t just take up space but redefines what that space looks like.
The SAMDP has since become a vital platform for her, amplifying her voice in policy circles, sharpening her governance acumen, and giving her a seat at the table where real decisions are made. For young women doctors, her message is direct and empowering: “Join SAMDP. Step into leadership. Find your tribe. Build with us. We are waiting for you.”
In her reflections, Dr. Gopane acknowledges the uphill battles many women in healthcare still face, from underrepresentation in leadership to systemic gender bias. Yet, she remains unwavering in her belief that women bring something uniquely transformative to the table: empathy, insight, innovation, and resilience.
Beyond her work in policy, business, and digital health, Dr. Gopane is also a devoted wife and mother. These roles enrich her perspective on women’s health and deepen her commitment to building systems that support women holistically, not just as patients, but as people navigating multiple roles with courage and grace.
As we celebrate Women’s Month 2025 under the theme “Building Resilient Economies for All,” Dr. Gopane story shows us that true economic strength is not confined to boardrooms or financial systems, it is cultivated in consultation rooms, tech-driven solutions, and the courageous spaces where women advocate for equity, innovation, and inclusion.
For Dr. Gopane, “Resilience is not just bouncing back, it’s building forward, with purpose. That’s what women in healthcare do every day.”
Healing From The Heart: Dr. Martha Ledwaba (50s)
“Tough times never kill anyone, they make you wiser.” These words, often echoed by her late father, a teacher and principal under apartheid, continue to anchor Dr. Martha Ledwaba’s remarkable journey in medicine and leadership.
Raised in the rural village of Doornspruit in Limpopo, Dr. Ledwaba grew up as the second of five siblings under the watchful eyes of her determined parents, a house executive mother and a father who believed deeply in education. Theirs was a home that nurtured resilience and purpose, especially for the four daughters who were raised to believe they could lead and change the world. I am a dedicated member Grace Bible church Pimville,serving in the Counselling department,esp dealing with Trauma. We are making a considerable difference in mental health,which is another pandemic of our communities.
Today, Dr. Ledwaba is not only a respected medical doctor in the Emfuleni, but a trailblazer in multiple healthcare spaces. She is the Secretary of the SAMDP Board, a Director at SGH, Chairperson of REMCO at Clinix Health Group, and an Advisor at Discovery Health and Medscheme. For nearly two decades, she served at Sebokeng Hospital’s HIV Clinic and continues her work with disabled and abandoned children at Ikhwezilokusa School.
But her influence extends far beyond titles. “I didn’t want to be an armchair critic,” she says of joining SAMDP. “I wanted to serve, to practice servant leadership and to be part of an organisation that gave Black doctors a voice.” As Secretary, she listens, records, advises, and supports, especially solo practitioners, with a humility sharpened by lived experience.
For Dr. Ledwaba, SAMDP has been more than a platform — it’s been a place that embraced her and helped her shine. “They gave me the freedom to serve and helped nurture my soft skills, patience, humility, and leadership, not for compensation, but for the empowerment of doctors.”
Dr. Ledwaba is also a proud mother to two accomplished adult daughters and a doting grandmother to 3 spirited young grandsons. Her roles as mother and grandmother have deepened her empathy and strengthened her belief in intergenerational impact , that the values we instill today shape the healthcare leaders of tomorrow.
Her call to young women doctors is clear: Show up, engage, and be seen. “I’m not proud to be the only woman in many spaces,” she says. “I want to see young women take over, lead, and be smarter and better than we ever were. But we need to see them , at our events, at our meetings.”
Dr. Ledwaba believes that women are naturally wired for healthcare, they are nurturers, givers, and protectors. She dreams of a healthcare system led by women, where compassion meets competence, and where the smallest achievements are celebrated just as fiercely as the greatest breakthroughs.
“Good healthcare is the greatest asset of any country, and it belongs in the soft, powerful hands of women,” she says. Her passion for Universal Healthcare, especially for the most economically excluded — women and children — is unwavering. For her, a healthy woman is the foundation of a healthy nation.
As South Africa commemorates 31 Years of Democracy and honours Women’s Month 2025 under the theme “Building Resilient Economies for All,” Dr. Ledwaba’s journey reminds us that resilience is not only built in boardrooms and policies — it is built in rural villages, in solo medical practices, in HIV clinics, and in the quiet, consistent labour and the nurturing arms of women who give their all to heal and uplift others.
“We carry generations in our hearts, our healing is not only personal,it is a responsibility bestowed upon us from GOD. When we lead with love, we lead for generations. So, to every young woman in medicine: don’t wait to be invited, take your place. Join SAMDP, bring your voice, and let us build the future of healthcare together,” she concludes.
The Healer Of Hearts And Homes: Dr. Matseliso Barbara Qhali (60s)
A quote by poet R.H. Sin says, “Some women fear the fire. Others become it.”
Indeed, Dr. Qhali is that fire, not for applause, but for purpose. She fuels dignity where it was lost, rekindles hope where it had faded, and lights the way toward a future where no one is left behind.
In a world that often defines success by titles, degrees, and accolades, Dr. Matseliso Barbara Qhali stands as a reminder that real greatness is measured by how many lives you touch, feed, uplift, and heal.
For over 30 years, Dr. Qhali has walked the dusty paths of underserved towns and townships in the Free State Province, entering homes not just as a doctor, but as a nurturer, mentor, counsellor, and unwavering beacon of hope. She doesn’t wear her stethoscope as a badge of prestige, but as a tool of purpose — one that has reached the hearts of addicts, the elderly, the hungry, the broken, and the forgotten.
“Being a doctor is not my job. It’s my calling — to serve, to build, to leave this world a little lighter than I found it,” she asserts.
Educated at Russia National Medical University in 1984, her clinical expertise spans the public and private healthcare sectors, with experience at institutions such as Queen Elizabeth II Hospital, University Hospitals, Pelonomi, Ficksburg, and Boitumelo. Her professional journey has also included working with international health organisations such as Aurum Institute and Prime Cure Health (PEPFAR), offering HIV counselling, management, and medication distribution.
Her specialised skills include voluntary male medical circumcision (branded CIRCUM Q in partnership with the Department of Health), ultrasonography, physiotherapy, and medical assessments for SASSA beneficiaries. She currently manages private practices in Kroonstad, Viljoenskroon, Welkom, Bothaville, Sebokeng, and Vosloorus/Thokoza — a testament to her reach, commitment, and tenacity.
Dr. Qhali is also the founding member of the Mental Health Review Board and continues to pioneer holistic, community-based health solutions tailored to the realities of South Africa’s most vulnerable populations.
But it is in the invisible work, the unglamorous, unheralded community efforts, where Dr. Qhali’s light shines brightest. She walks alongside women’s stokvels to teach vegetable gardening. She checks in on grandmothers in dusty villages. She visits the elderly and provides guidance on critical women’s health issues — pap smears, vaginal discharge, menstruation, menopause — and sits with troubled youth to encourage them away from drugs and gangsterism, urging them toward education, business, entrepreneurship, and purpose. She teaches. She listens. She feeds. She prays. And she never stops giving.
“We are born into this life brought by others. And when we leave, we are buried by others. So how can anyone walk alone in a sea of humanity?”
Her view of the world is shaped by community, rooted in ubuntu and interdependence. For Dr. Qhali, SAMDP was never just an association — it was a village, a home for knowledge-sharing, mentorship, collaboration, and growth. Since joining in 2004, she has found strength in unity, describing SAMDP as a collective of minds and hearts determined to raise the standards of healthcare in South Africa.
“TEAM means Together Each Achieves More. Just like the ants or birds — we survive and thrive by lifting each other. No one is omniscient or omnipotent — we rise through one another.”
SAMDP, she says, gave her not only a platform to grow, lead, and influence healthcare policy, but also a gratifying space to connect with likeminded professionals, to mentor, and to be mentored. It empowered her to launch initiatives like the Mental Health Review Board and strengthened her leadership capacity as a Black woman in medicine.
Dr. Qhali urges young women doctors to join SAMDP not for the prestige, but for the partnership. “Certainly, your voice matters in shaping the future of healthcare,” she says. “In SAMDP, you find mentorship, a sisterhood of professionals, and the tools to lead with integrity and heart.”
Her message is not just professional — it is deeply personal and protective: “Young women, abstain from sex, focus on your education, and take care of your health. Do your pap smears annually. Stay away from alcohol, smoking, and drugs. Know about PEP, PrEP, and STIs. Learn, rise, and never forget your purpose.”
She is not only a healer, leader, and community builder, she is also a devoted wife of 31 years to a Conveyancing Attorney, and a proud mother to one daughter, who has followed her own path of excellence as an Attorney. Dr. Qhali’s legacy is not only professional, but deeply personal — rooted in family, faith, and an unwavering commitment to lifting others as she rises.
In every clinic she’s opened, every youth she’s mentored, and every patient she’s served, Dr. Qhali has sown seeds of dignity, healing, and hope. She is living proof that true greatness lies not in how high you rise, but in how deeply you serve.
The quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson “The purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be useful, to be honourable, to be compassionate , to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well” is testament that Dr. Qhali is not just building a career , she is building a legacy of love, impact, and purpose that will echo across generations.
CONCLUSION: A Legacy Carved in Care
In a world where economies rise and fall on systems, policies, and markets — it is women like Dr. Qhali, Dr. Ledwaba, and Dr. Gopane who remind us that the truest economy is the economy of care. They build not just clinics and companies, but communities. They mentor not just minds, but generations. They heal, they lead, they uplift — not for recognition, but because they must. This Women’s Month, we don’t just honour their contributions — we carry forward their legacy. To every young woman doctor reading this: you are not starting from scratch — you are starting from strength. Join SAMDP, and let your journey be shaped by those who walked before you, so that others may one day walk in your footsteps.
From the South African Medical and Dental Practitioners (SAMDP):
To all the phenomenal women of South Africa — doctors, caregivers, mothers, leaders, workers, and warriors across every corner of this nation — we see you, we honour you, and we walk beside you.
Women’s Day in South Africa is not just a date on the calendar — it is a powerful remembrance of the thousands of women who marched in 1956, refusing to be silenced, and demanding dignity and justice. It is a celebration of the fire, resilience, and grace that continue to define South African women today.
“Wathinta abafazi, wathinta imbokodo” — You strike a woman, you strike a rock.
And still, the rock stands. Still, she rises.
SAMDP wishes every woman in South Africa a Happy Women’s Month. May you continue to rise with purpose, lead with compassion, and heal with power. The future is not only female — it is fierce, it is focused, and it is fearless.
