Nomaswazi Shabangu-Mndawe has built a 24-year career shaped by resilience, advocacy and a commitment to advancing women in the legal profession.
Born in Dullstroom, she was the only child of Anna Shabangu and did not meet her father until she was 27. She was raised by her grandparents but lost all three important figures in her life as she entered her teenage years. She was chased away from her grandparents' home, the only place she had known as home. Her childhood was marked by hardship and frequent moves. At times, she went days without food, surviving on water or meals offered by friends. Her activism began in the 1980s, when she was detained without trial for participating in riots against the apartheid government.
Shabangu-Mndawe completed matric at Sitintile High School in Mbombela. Her principal, Mr Myanga, paid her matric examination fees. In 1991, she received a bursary to study for a BProc at the University of the North.
Shabangu-Mndawe is the founder and director of a law firm. She has acted as a magistrate and an acting judge and has mentored young legal practitioners who have gone on to establish their own firms or hold senior public-sector positions. Her work is driven by helping people whose rights have been trampled on. She advocates for women's equality and greater parity in legal leadership.
She is president of the South African Women Lawyers Association, a council member of the Legal Sector Charter Council and Judicial Service Commission commissioner. In 2024, she was elected regional vice-president (Africa) of the International Federation of Women Lawyers. Shabangu-Mndawe has founded the Sawla Development Fund, Sawla Bursary Fund, Usizo Law Clinic, the NSM Legal Practice Incubator Programme, Black Sisters Unite Forum and the Sinembali Foundation.