Malegapuru William Makgoba
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Professor Malegapuru William Makgoba (born 1952 in Sekhukhune, South Africa in 1952) is a South African immunologist and principal and vice-chancellor of the University of KwaZulu-Natal.
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[edit] Achievements
Makgoba received an MBChB degree from the University of Natal Medical School in 1976 and a DPhil in human immunogenetics from the University of Oxford in 1983.
In 1999 he edited African Renaissance, a book recording the September 1998 Johannesburg conference on the African Renaissance.
He has received many awards and distinctions including the 2002 Science for Society gold medal of the Academy of Science.[1]
Makgoba is a fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of London and the Royal Society of South Africa. He is also a foreign associate member of the United States National Academy of Sciences' Institute of Medicine and a fellow of the College of Physicians of South Africa.[2]
[edit] Academic career
Makgoba was appointed the first black vice-chancellor at the University of the Witwatersrand in 1995 before being suspended for allegedly falsifying his résumé. He was later reinstated after a six month crisis.
Makgoba left Wits University to join the South African Medical Research Council. He headed the South African Medical Research Council between 1999 and 2002 and was involved in developing South Africa's AIDS strategy and the SA AIDS Vaccine Initiative.[3] While at the Medical Research Council he received strong media and civil society support for publically opposing the AIDS denialism of the South African President Thabo Mbeki.
He was appointed the principal and vice-chancellor of the University of Natal on 1 September 2002, months after it was announced that the university would merge with the University of Durban-Westville in the future. Many argued that the appointment was not made in accordance with the university regulations.
Makgoba continued with his position on the interim council during the merger, which was official on 1 January 2004. His position was confirmed upon the creation of the founding council of the University of KwaZulu-Natal.
[edit] Controversies
Makgoba immediately began introducing World Bank style reforms [4] to the University. The Committee for Academic Freedom in Africa issued a statement in protest against alleged infractions of academic freedon. He then tried to evict shack dwellers living on the campus.
In 2005 the Mail and Guardian newspaper published an article [5] by Professor Makgoba which compared middle-aged white academics to apes who had lost their alpha status.
Staff were also banned from speaking to the media during a two week strike in February 2006. Strikers wore T-shirts that read 'We Demand Acaedemic Freeedom'. [6] Later that year he charged activist academic Fazel Khan, who has worked closely with the shack dwellers' movement Abahlali baseMjondolo [7] and is a key unionist on the campus, for 'bringing the university into disrepute' after Khan answered questions put to him by the media after he was airbrushed out of pictures in the University publication.[8]
During November 2006, Makgoba defended himself against an attack by the Freedom of Expression Institute that alleged that the freedom of expression of academics at the University was being "eroded."[9]
Makgoba, along with the council chairman, stepped aside from their positions on 28 November 2006, after a scandal emerged involving claims of sexual harassment and victimisation levelled by the dean of the Faculty of Management Studies. Makgoba denied these claims and relinquished his post pending the outcome of an enquiry.[10] As the scandal unfolded staff where again issued an instruction not to speak to the media. Makgoba was subsequently found not guilty and resumed his position as Vice-Chancellor.
[edit] External links
[edit] References
- ^ < Financial Mail - Little Black Book.
- ^ < Financial Mail - Little Black Book.
- ^ < Financial Mail - Little Black Book.
- ^ << Article explaining World Bank role in African universities.
- ^ << Racist Commentary by Makgoba in the Mail and Guardian.
- ^ << Pictures and text of the UKZN 2006 strike.
- ^ << Abahlali online- 1 December 2006.
- ^ << Letter in support of Khan- 1 December 2006.
- ^ < Business Day - 1 December 2006.
- ^ < Business Day - 1 December 2006.
