NMMU tribute to five top citizens
Awards recognise outstanding achievements
THE Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University council will present awards to five outstanding South Africans who have made significant contributions in the fields of public health, education and the pursuit of justice and equality.
The Prestige Award is made to anyone who has made a significant impact on the wider local community. The event takes place on Friday at the Radisson Blu Hotel.
Activist Dr Wendy Orr will receive the award for her courageous approach in advancing the achievement of human rights.
NMMU spokeswoman Roslyn Baatjies said Orr continued to lead an extraordinary life which had in- fluenced change in the apartheid struggle and the fight for human rights.
While working in the medical examiner’s office in Port Elizabeth in 1985, she treated political detainees who had been assaulted.
She became the first and only doctor in the government’s employment to reveal police torture and the abuse of these detainees
United Congregational Church of Southern Africa (UCCSA) minister Reverend Fred Hufkie will receive his award posthumously for challenging the unfairness of racially segregated education. Hufkie spent his life serving communities in the under-resourced Great Karoo area.
“As a strong opponent of racially segregated education, Hufkie was arrested and detained at the height of the people’s uprising against ‘bantu education’ in 1976, and imprisoned in Victor Verster prison for seven months,” said Baatjies.
Another recipient is Dr Simon Gqubule, who will be awarded the Council Prestige Award for his dedication, sound work ethics and integrity.
In February 1988, as a leader of the United Democratic Front, he was banned and restricted to the Pietermaritzburg magisterial district and placed under house arrest.
For her unstinting commitment to ensuring top quality healthcare in the public health system, and for her lifelong commitment to serving her community, NMMU will also present Nomalungelo Alicia Mhlantla with the Council Prestige Award.
Another health professional being recognised is Dr Pat Naidoo. He will receive the award for his life-long contribution to serving the needs of the sick and the poor through his dedication to public health services.
He had made a significant contribution to designing the architecture of the country’s healthcare system, Baatjies said.