Mangena was the first black qualified nurse in the Transvaal and completed training in 1910. She attended school at the Inanda Seminary and, rather than entering teaching which was one of the only professions open to black youth, decided to enter into nursing. She trained at the Victoria Hospital, Lovedale in the Eastern Cape, and then retuned to the Transvaal. Mangena was also involved in the Wesleyan Church, community affairs and did social service for the Public Utility Transport Corporation (PUTCO). She died in 1961.

(Source: E.J. Verwey (ed), New dictionary of South African biography. Pretoria, 1995, pp 154-155)