Dr. Mbombo is currently the Member of Executive Council (MEC) also known as Provincial Minister of Health & Wellness in Western Cape, South Africa, since 2015. She is the first female and Black African to ever hold that position in the history of the province. She has spearheaded and successfully led the Western Cape response to the COVID-19 pandemic using a whole society, multi-departments, multi-spheres of government, multi- stakeholders, and multi-disciplinary approaches, reaching ensuring principles, in equitable access to resources is applied, thus leaving no one behind.
Nomafrench has presented many keynote addresses, at national & international conference platforms, beyond health-related areas, on economy, gender equality, human rights & leadership, e.g., she presented a Civil Society Consultative Forum on the Commission on the Status of Women on Beijing +25. In April 2021, she was a speaker at the Renew Europe I European Parliament I RENEWPAC conference, where she exchanged strategic ideas with other leaders from regions like Europe, Asia, MENA and Latin America. Prior her entry into politics in 2014 she was an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Community and Health Sciences, University of the Western Cape (UWC), South Africa. She served in NEPAD (New partnership for Africa’s Development) delegations to African Union blocs to provide support on establishing postgraduate studies in maternal and child health for the country’s health professionals, in accelerating the reduction of maternal and child morbidities and mortality in Africa.
Her overarching interest has always been in community empowerment, as a conduit to reclaim the voices of the population at risk, such as young women and girls, rural women, LGBTQIA+ persons, and other marginalised communities. Dr. Mbombo holds a PhD in Gender and Human Rights (UWC), a Master’s Degree in Maternal & Child Health (UKZN) and a Bachelor’s Degree, in Nursing Science (UFH) and in addition to various other qualifications.
She was elected as a Democratic Alliance Women’s Network (DAWN) National Leader - a position she used to influence policies such as Gender-Based Violence and championed the cause of LGBTQIA+ persons.