Malegapuru Makgoba

Malegapuru William Makgoba (born 1952 in Sekhukhune, South Africa) is a leading South African immunologist, physician, public health advocate, academic and former vice-chancellor of the University of KwaZulu-Natal. In 2013 he was recognised as "a pioneer in higher education transformation", by being awarded the Order of Mapungubwe in Silver. Quotes Change is never easy. It is a painful process that challenges comfort zones, demands vision, hard work, discipline and courage. Change in the South African context forces us to confront our racial past, our racial socialisation and to engage in discourse that is often uncomfortable. In our case it involves confronting the denied identity of Africa and its rich tacit knowledge systems in creating a new globally competitive learning and research environment. Change is Never Easy We glorify corruption and corrupt leadership and tolerate mediocrity in leadership. We normalise behaviour of incompetence that would be unacceptable in many other societies. In 1994, South Africa was full of hope, aspirations, visions, dreams and was riding high. We wanted to do better and be better. South Africa was “punching above its weight” with a comparatively thriving economy. We were a country of influence and whose counsel was sought over the globe and listened to. We developed a very progressive Constitution (1996), one that was lauded the world over. Our Constitution and democratic processes were geared towards transformation, towards creating a new society. We were led by a revered global icon in President Nelson Mandela; the world seemed to be our oyster. We had become the envy of many and people were drawn to our country because we epitomised the proverbial beacon of hope in a troubled world. We won the 1995 World Rugby Cup; we won the African Cup of Nations in 1996; our stars all appeared to be aligned. This was the era of Madiba’s reconciliation project. We are today an embarrassed and ashamed nation, a nation with very little inspiration or hope or confidence. Today we have a broken country. The education system is a total mess; the economy is teetering, with unemployment rife; the healthcare system is approaching collapse. These are the sine qua non of a failed state. Our infrastructure, roads, bridges and railways [are] … almost beyond use. Crime is rampant to the point that South Africa is approaching a lawless state such as would be the envy of Mexico and Colombia. Men have declared war on women and children. We must hand it to the ANC: it has mastered corruption to the extent that sometimes one wonders who is not corrupt in the ANC. This book is about leadership for transformation – or leadership during transformation. It is a particular type of leadership, one, if I may hazard an informed opinion, a type of leadership that is not all that common. The origins of this particular kind of leadership are embedded in the struggle to overcome the colonial-apartheid history from which we have emerged, and to create instead a just, equitable, non-racial, and non-sexist society. This book is written for all of us, the informed and also those who need to be informed about South Africa’s transition. It is a view through the lens and the real experiences of one concerned African person. More than that, it is written for all those who are interested in, and who care about and love South Africa, with all its complexities, resilience, contrasts and contradictions. And its struggle to become a successful and stable. There are simple messages in this book. These messages espouse courage, decisiveness, conviction, integrity and vision, the sine qua non elements of leadership. It looks at leadership, its decision-making processes and the necessity for speedy action, the elements that are essential for the success of contested transformation in society. It also points out that decisive leadership is important for building a capable state and that dominant cultures and racism are major obstacles to attaining a socially cohesive, non-racial and non-sexist equitable society. One does not need to be a politician or belong to a political party to make meaningful contributions to South Africa’s transformation. It is clear that a particular form of leadership is necessary to build the new non-racial and non-sexist equitable society for which so many sacrificed and which the Constitution enjoins us to do. Liberation fighters are not necessarily the best champions of democracy; when ideology trumps pragmatism in leadership decision-making in a modern, globally interconnected society, the transformation project falters and finally corruption in leadership is pernicious. There is a noticeable mismatch between South Africa’s much-lauded advanced and transformative Constitution and societal development in the implementation and the experience of citizens on the ground. The clashes of tradition and culture, race, and racism (subtle or naked) interact with each other in the transformation project and become essential factors while confronting and implementing transformation. These continue to haunt our democracy. Racism in its many forms remains institutionalised in South African society. In our diversity we bear the fingerprints of racism whether African, coloured, Indian or white. Even when we have been comrades or tribes, racism is stubbornly persistent. The future direction of the country, its society and values are passionately and at times hotly contested by the former oppressors and former oppressed. Often, these are avoided, glossed over, hush-hushed or ignored in public debates because they do not seem politically correct. In creating a new society and emerging from a history of racism, poverty inequality and spiralling unemployment, the clash of cultures is very real, palpable and unavoidable. The challenge becomes how to use the diversity of cultures and the historic differences to strengthen the new, united society. This for me was a revelation of the health system. How it interacts with politics, and how political power and lack of accountability can result in human rights abuses to the extent that vulnerable people, such as mental health patients, could be treated the way they were treated. How it interacts with politics, and how political power and lack of accountability can result in human rights abuses to the extent that vulnerable people, such as mental health patients, could be treated the way they were treated, resulting in deaths and so forth. I mean, people in power denying that their actions could have been responsible for what happened. It was a failure of basic common sense. That was really just horrible as an investigation. The fact is I don’t belong to any political party. It has something to do with my independence, my freedom of thinking, my training. He [Mandela] said I should think about returning to South Africa, that I should think about joining his new movement, his philosophy of reconciliation. And of course, he put me in a corner because he wanted to know whether I was a member of the ANC. And I said no. And he said, well, I’ll take you downstairs so you can join. And I said, no thank you. Fortunately, as we were talking, his PA knocked on the door and said there’s somebody who wants to see you. That’s how I escaped. I mean, the pspotlightnsp.ressure to be told by such an important person to become a member of a party! The fact is I don’t belong to any political party. It has something to do with my independence, my freedom of thinking, my training. Being a good doctor requires empathy and a deep understanding that every single patient craves a hundred percent care. Such empathy is not something that can be taught or learned from books. The book is to me a personal story of experiences. Its experiences, observations, and reflections and/or critique, over a 29-year period of South Africa’s democracy. I came here in August 1994, and this book is produced just at the end of August 2023. In my own specialty, it corresponds to a generation in genetics or biology. It is defined as a period where parents give birth to children, and children start to also make children. The discussions were up and down. As the chief negotiator said, there was no way you could bring two positions that are so polarised into a single position in two days. But people spoke with honesty, respect and passion. In the end, as the media has correctly reported, there was a point that we all shared - that there are a number of simple projects that relate to the South African epidemic that we can all do together. These are not costly or time-consuming projects and they will give us a picture of the epidemic in South Africa and also of the various relationships between clinical diagnosis, the HIV test and the presence of the virus as defined by DNA. Each of these tests has a different level of sensitivity and specificity. If these tests are correlate, it will be very difficult to assume that anything else causes HIV/Aids. In an interview Well, we need figures for the syndrome too because we keep on telling the world that we have an Aids epidemic. We need to have figures annually from everywhere. We might find that at Baragwanath Hospital in Gauteng now the figures show infection rates are going down and maybe they are going up in the Northern Province. We could then ask - what have they been doing at Baragwanath that is not happening in the Northern Province? It may involve a centralised registering process as we have for TB or typhoid. In an interview My own understanding is that South African leaders get better advice confidentially rather than publicly. You can achieve a lot more by writing to a minister than by writing an article. Civil society has to operate in that kind of way. Unfortunately, Western civil society makes its pronouncements publicly. African leadership understands advice given confidentially, behind the scenes. That is a fundamental difference. If I wanted to get something through to Nelson Mandela or to President Mbeki, it is much easier for me to make an arrangement to see either of them and discuss it thoroughly. The moment you start going public, it opens up a lot of other things that relate to history that are really unpleasant. People begin to stand their ground on the basis of many factors that get conflated with the issue. In an interview External links Category:Physicians from South Africa Category:1952 births Category:Living people