Chief Executive Officer: 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.