Academics also human, vulnerable

THE tragic suicide of Professor Bongani Mayosi in the prime of his life raises many issues, personal, professional, political and human.

It has been attributed to the mental illness depression and his case journalistically categorised as another of the millions of deaths of sufferers.

However, the onset of his depression coincides exactly with his promotion to Dean of the Faculty of Medicine at UCT in 2016.

He was subjected to personalised humiliation from an unexpected source.

Protesters or “activists” reportedly occupied his office for two weeks and used degrading insults like “coconut” and “sell-out”. Academics are not made for this. Many are sensitive and all are vulnerable when they are isolated and targeted.

After taking leave, he collapsed in his office. When he tried to take the only way out of his torment, namely by resignation, he was refused, not once but twice.

This is stupefying. The right to resign should be absolute on such personal grounds.

There was clearly an institutional failure to protect him, a point emphasised by both Professor Jonathan Jansen and the new UCT vice-chancellor Mamokgethi Phakeng.

An official enquiry will hopefully clarify the issues and identify those responsible for this terrible loss.

Geoff Hughes is an emeritus professor formerly with Wits University.