‘T Diagnosis: love
Two top doctors treat each other to rings,
HE thing about medical school, where we met, is that there are a lot of “book-smart” and beautiful girls, but not so many intelligent ones,” says Dr Bandile Hadebe, explaining what attracted him to his bride, Dr Nokwethemba Mtshali.
The couple got hitched in the idyllic setting of Talloula in Botha’s Hill, 12 years after they met at UKZN.
It wasn’t all smooth sailing, however — the couple broke up at university and remained friends. But the unmistakeable symptoms of romance wouldn’t go away, and they eventually reunited in 2009. The lobola was negotiated on March 24 2012, but Bandile still officially proposed a month later — just to be certain.
Bandile works as a parliamentary liaison officer for the Department of Economic Development in the deputy minister’s office, and the couple live in Gauteng, where Nokwethemba is a clinical manager at Far East Rand Hospital.
The groom’s parents are Nomvuyo, a retired nurse, and the late Cecil Hadebe.
Nokwethemba hails from Empangeni and is the daughter of Bongisiwe, a hospital attendant, and Musawenkosi Mtshali.
The wedding started an hour late as the bride’s nephew (and pageboy) went AWOL, but he was duly located and from then on it all went beautifully.
“With Bandile I can be vulnerable and cry,” says Nokwethemba. “He is the one person who knows me and accepts me the way I am in every way, flaws and all.”