Susan Dangarembga (nee Ngonyama) was Zimbabwe’s first black female graduate after she earned a Bachelor of Arts in English and Latin from Fort-Hare University in 1953.
She is mother to Tsitsi Dangarembga a Zimbabwean author and filmmaker who was the first woman to write a book in English when she penned the novel, Nervous Conditions in 1988.
Susan Dangarembga short-biography
- Born in 1926
- Skipped a grade as a student at Hartzell Primary School
- Goromonzi Secondary School (1947-50)
- Best O’level results in Southern Rhodesia in 1950 (both black & white students)
- BA English and Latin (Fort Hare, 1951-53)
- Master’s in English (UK)
- Post-graduate Diploma in Teaching and Education Administration
- Married to Amon Dangarembga
- Taught at Hartzell Secondary School
- Died in October 2017 aged 91
Susan Dangarembga, the teacher
A teacher at heart, Susan Dangarembga went back to her former school Hartzel where she taught the likes of Zimbabwe’s former Deputy Prime Minister Arthur Mutambara among others.
Video of Susan Dangarembga talking about her time teaching at Hartzel Secondary School in Mutare in the Manicaland province of Zimbabwe.
Susan Dangarembga, Zimbabwe’s first female Public Service Commissioner
In 1983 Susan Dangarebga was appointed Zimbabwe’s Public Service Commissioner becoming the first female to hold the position.
