14 Facts About Jane Ngwenya

Jane Ngwenya served as Deputy Minister of Labor, Manpower and Social Protection during Zimbabwe's first independent government in 1980.

Jane Ngwenya fought for racial justice against the white minority in Rhodesia, joining the National Democratic Party of Zimbabwe in 1960 and later served as the first woman executive of the Zimbabwe African People's Union.

Jane Ngwenya was the first of two daughters of Gerard Ngwenya, a Sotho man from South Africa who was a Methodist missionary and had moved to Southern Rhodesia.

Jane Ngwenya was raised by her maternal grandparents following the death of her father.

Jane Ngwenya attended secondary school at the Madende School in the Manicaland Province.

Jane Ngwenya became a schoolteacher in Que Que before entering politics.

Jane Ngwenya gave birth to her first child, Emmanuel, in 1953, followed by Elisabeth and Shingirai.

Jane Ngwenya divorced her husband in 1960 after he had urged her not to pursue politics, but she sacrificed her marriage for her freedom from the British Empire and never remarried.

Jane Ngwenya was the first woman to serve on the National Executive of ZAPU and was the last surviving founding member.

Jane Ngwenya was the party's National Secretary for Women's Affairs.

In 1963, Jane Ngwenya was arrested several times for her involvement in resisting the Rhodesian Front, led by Winston Field and Ian Smith, who would later lead Rhodesia's Unilateral Declaration of Independence in 1965.

Jane Ngwenya was imprisoned from 1964 to 1975 and fought to change the treatment of women in prison.

Jane Ngwenya was elected to the National Assembly of Zimbabwe in 1981 and served there till 2001.

Jane Ngwenya died in Bulawayo on 5 August 2021 at the age of 86 from COVID-19 and was buried on the Zimbabwe National Heroes Acre in Harare as she was declared a national heroin.