Nokwanda Makunga

Makunga grew up in Alice in the Eastern Cape, and attended a private boarding school in Grahamstown.[1] Her father, Oswald, was a botanist who specialised in the Iridaceae.[1] He grew up in rural poverty and won a scholarship to study at University of Fort Hare.[2] She attended university in Pietermaritzburg.[1] She completed her PhD at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in 2004, working on the molecular biology of plants.[3]

In 2005 Makunga was offered a position at Stellenbosch University. Her work looks to identify the molecular and genetic regulation of the secondary metabolism in medicinal plants.[4][5] She often travels to rural areas to talk to traditional healers.[6] She has a contributed to two books: Protocols for Somatic Embryogenesis in Woody plants and Floriculture, Ornamental and Plant Biotechnology: Advances and Topical Issues.[7][8] In 2010 she delivered a TED talk on the Potential of a Medicinal Wonderland.[9] She has acted as honorary secretary, Vice President and President of the South African Association of Botanists Council.[10]

She won the 2011 National Science and Technology Forum Distinguished Young Black Researcher award.[11] She also won the TW Kambule Award.[12] In 2017 she was a Fulbright scholar at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis.[13] She worked with Jerry Cohen on medicinal plants from the Eastern Cape.[13][14] She studied the Stevia plant.[15] She holds a patent for vegetative plant propagation.[16]

Makunga is a passionate science communicator.[1][3] Together with Tanisha Williams and Beronda Montgomery, she leads the annual Black Botanists Week.[17]