Tribute to top SA cardiologist
His suicide came as a shock to everyone who knew him. A childhood friend of top cardiologist Bongani Mayosi tells YOU the professor battled his demons in private
HE WAS a trailblazing cardiologist who discovered a gene that causes heart attacks. Smart, successful and happily married – he seemed to have it all. Yet for his last two years he’d walked around with a troubled and heavy heart because of the depression that darkened every day.
In the end, world-renowned professor Bongani Mayosi (51) couldn’t beat the demons that had haunted him and lost his battle with mental illness when he took his own life.
His recent death shocked South Africa – everyone from President Cyril Ramaphosa to singer and songwriter Simphiwe Dana, who also suffers from depression, paid tribute to the man who was undeniably the best in his field.
At the University of Cape Town (UCT), where he was dean of the faculty of health sciences and an A-rated National Research Foundation researcher, there was an atmosphere of disbelief as students tried to comprehend why their talented teacher had taken what his family called the desperate decision to end his life.
e professor leaves his dermatologist wife, Nonhlanhla, and daughters Camagu and S’vuyile, who recently qualified as a doctor. They’re struggling to come to terms with their devastating loss and are too traumatised to speak to the media.
Others close to him are able to share some details about Bongani’s struggle.
Dr Fundile Nyati (50) was shocked to learn his childhood friend had been battling mental illness. “I wasn’t aware he was depressed,” he tells us.
Last month Fundile, the CEO of Proactive Health Solutions in Port Elizabeth, saw his friend of 37 years when he joined the Mayosi family to celebrate Bongani’s sister Khutala’s birthday.
“I asked a lot of questions about Bongani, how he’s doing and all of that and
never was anything ever said about him not being in a good space.”
HE’S not surprised by the outpouring of shock from the South Africans, and the medical fraternity in particular, Fundile says. “Most people didn’t know. If there’s anybody who knew, it was people who are extremely, extremely close. They’re very private people.”
But Professor Mamokgethi Phakeng, vice-chancellor of UCT, says they were aware Bongani was suffering from depression. It had been a difficult few years for him, she adds.
In 2016 his office was occupied for two weeks by protesting #FeesMustFall students. He resigned in November last year but former vice-chancellor Max Price convinced him to stay as “they were unwilling to let him go because they needed top, world-class academics”.
The stress of the job took its toll and Bongani collapsed earlier this year because of the mental strain, Phakeng says.
“But I’m not sure if he ever used the counselling services on offer at the wellness centre.”
When we met Bongani in 2006, after his appointment as head of medicine at Groote Schuur Hospital, he downplayed his groundbreaking achievements. ‘‘I cringe every time I see this thing about the heart gene being written about,” he told us.
His research into genetics led to the discovery of a gene that determines whether a person might suffer a heart attack – no small feat – but the modesty he displayed in our interview back then is something that stems from his childhood.
Bongani was one of the smartest students at St John’s College in Mthatha but never thought himself superior, Fundile says.
“He always wanted to teach the guys who followed him so they could do better. He was the kind of guy you could go to when you didn’t understand your school subjects. He was always available to assist us.”
Bongani was dedicated to serving others. As a student he brought to life a newsletter called the Fortnightly Chat that addressed issues affecting his peers.
He’d matriculated at St John’s in Johannesburg with four distinctions and set off to attend the University of KwaZulu-Natal to fulfil his lifelong dream of studying medicine.
“But he was cautious about stepping into the shadow of his father, George, who was already a successful gynaecologist,” Fundile recalls.
Even so, the young Bongani made his mark – during six years of studies he averaged above 80% in every subject every year. He was awarded his bachelor of medicine and bachelor of surgery cum laude, making him the first black person at the university to achieve this.
It wasn’t just his career that was flourishing. He’d met Nonhlanhla in his first year in 1983, and the couple wed in December 1989 – the year they both qualified as doctors.
Their union was a wonder to behold, says singer Zwai Bala, who met Bongani in 1989 while on holiday from the Drakensberg Boys Choir School.
“His wedding to uSis Nonhlanhla was a very special day with special performances from me and my family, Mthunzi and a number of folk from Natal,” he said in his tribute on social media.
The couple were “the perfect fit” because of their shared Christian faith, even if those around them didn’t ascribe to their belief, Fundile says.
“They got married on either Christmas or Boxing Day of that very year,” he recalls. “In line with their Christian thinking, there was no alcohol at the wedding – something that challenged a lot of people. So people had to sort themselves out in the boot of their car without being seen,” he says with a laugh.
Despite Bongani’s own strict beliefs, he was accommodating and welcoming of everyone he met, Fundile adds. “What I’ll miss most about Bongani is his humility in success.
“We don’t have enough people who are humble when they have achieved. If anything, they use their achievements to make those that haven’t achieved feel small.”
Hamba kahle, Bongani. S
‘He always wanted to teach the guys who followed him so they could do better’