The Citizen

Prof Mayosi tried to resign twice before he took his life – UCT VC

Batandwa Malingo

Professor Bongani Mayosi. Picture: Supplied by University of Cape Town

The vice-chancellor says the deceased wrote to management that ‘he can’t do this’, but they would not let him quit because ‘it would not look good for a black dean to resign’. 

 

University of Cape Town cardiologist Professor Bongani Mayosi, who committed suicide on Friday, tried to resign twice since 2016, but was not released by the institution, says UCT vice-chancellor Prof Mamokgethi Phakeng.

In a conversation with Cape Talk radio station on Monday night, Phakeng revealed the former dean of health science at the institution started suffering from depression during the 2016 Fees Must Fall protests.

“In times of conflict, a lot of things happen, a lot of things go wrong. We can take 2016/2017 lightly. I’m not saying students are to blame – students themselves were traumatised.

Oftentimes we think it’s only students; the staff themselves were traumatised, and the things we say to one another during conflict are not desirable.

“That’s not to say the struggle is wrong, but there are human beings around you, some of them did not even design the system, and yet they have to suffer. That situation was pretty tough for many people,” she said.

Phakeng said tertiary institutions were no longer safe spaces for ideas, as those who opposed certain views were perceived as the “enemy”.

She revealed that during the Fees Must Fall protests, the deceased was called “a coconut, a sellout”.

He was the middleman between the students and staff during the protests.

“People would say during a struggle there would be casualties, and I understand there would be casualties, but right now, what’s happened is calling on us to reflect on what are those casualties – why did they happen?

“Mayosi tried to resign twice. He tried end of 2016 beginning of 2017, he tried again in November, he wrote to Dr [Max] Price, who was the VC at the time, saying he can’t do this, and of course, we’ve got to ask why was he not released.

“He got depression. He was not at work for three months. He wanted to stop being a dean. We failed him as management. We could have left him to go when he asked,” she said.

Asked why Mayosi was not allowed to resign, Phakeng said the answer she had received so far was that “it would not look good for a black dean to resign”. She said she was still waiting for a full report on why he was not allowed to quit.

Phakeng also said UCT could be brutal for both academics and students.

“The institution we work for can be brutal. I, myself, have tablets in my bag. I started taking anxiety and depression tablets during the recruitment process. It was nasty in the corridors, you get called names, people say you are strong, they throw things at you. They started saying my qualifications were fake and I must be investigated.

“I’m not taking pills every day, but I have them in my bag. During that recruitment process, I was taking them every day. There are so many people who are hurting in the institution, people have started drinking too much, others got divorced because they are no longer the same,” she said.

Phakeng was appointed as the UCT vice-chancellor in March 2018.

SOURCE:  https://citizen.co.za/news/south-africa/1988844/prof-mayosi-tried-to-resign-twice-before-he-took-his-life-uct-vc/

UCT must take responsibility for Prof Mayosi's death – former Fees Must Fall leader

2018-07-31 14:03

Christina Pitt

Fees Must Fall activist Chumani Maxwele. (Image via Facebook)

Former Fees Must Fall leader Chumani Maxwele has insisted that the University of Cape Town (UCT) take full responsibility for the death of dean of health sciences Professor Bongani Mayosi, saying Mayosi was a keen supporter of the student protests.

The accomplished academic, who suffered from depression, died from suicide at the age of 51 on Friday.

Maxwele put the blame firmly on the doorstep of UCT after vice-chancellor Professor Mamokgethi Phakeng held a press briefing on Sunday where she said the Fees Must Fall protests had caused a lot of trauma at the university – something that both staff and students were still reeling from.

On Tuesday, she clarified her remarks and said she in no way meant that the protests were to blame for Mayosi's death. She said while the protests "were not wrong", they were "not kind" to Mayosi.



She said his office was occupied for about two weeks during the protests in 2016.
"He had to manage pressure coming from many different directions, including from staff and students. And some black students were angry with him. They called him names, like coconut or sellout, when his intentions were really for the students' best welfare," she said in a statement.

'Why would he join us if he was offended?'

But Maxwele on Tuesday disputed this, saying Mayosi was a keen supporter of the Fees Must Fall movement and had joined them in their protest.

"There are allegations that he was called a sellout or coconut. Firstly, many black academics were called names during the protests, but they understood the students and continued to guide them," he said.

"Secondly, there is no way that a senior black academic would be offended by this name-calling. Why would he protest with us during Fees Must Fall? He joined us at Parliament in 2016 – why would he join us if he was offended?"

Maxwele went on to allege that the university had rejected Mayosi's attempt to leave the institution because "it would look bad if a senior black academic resigned".

He claimed that Mayosi had been constantly undermined by his colleagues during his tenure as dean.

"Professor Mayosi had a very sharp mind and he was called incompetent by his white colleagues. Every position that he wanted to take was reversed. How could he lead people who didn't trust him?" he said.

Phakeng 'misread political situation'

UCT released Mayosi's resignation letter, dated November 3, 2017, to the media on Sunday.
The letter read: "I have decided to resign my position as dean of the faculty of health sciences. I believe that the faculty deserves better leadership than I have been able to provide over the past year. I am sorry to do this in the middle of a crisis."

Maxwele also hit out at Phakeng, saying she had misread the political situation on campus during the protests.

Hundreds of students paid their respects to Mayosi at an informal memorial service and vigil at the university on Monday.

Mayosi was remembered as a strong leader and a source of inspiration to all who knew him.
A formal memorial service will take place on Thursday.

SOURCE:  https://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/uct-must-take-responsibility-for-prof-mayosis-death-former-fees-must-fall-leader-20180731