By Edwin Naidu
The head of the department of surgery at the University of Cape Town Professor Graham Fieggen has expressed “shame and regret over the distressing allegations” about racism and sexism under his watch
And external pressure is growing for urgent action against racism and sexism at the university which admits it has historical legacy issues it is grappling with.
“I want to assure every member of the department that we are committed to abolishing all forms discriminatory conduct and removing all aspects of institutional culture that marginalise and disempower people,” he said in a letter to staff.
Fieggen was responding to reports in this newspaper last week which lifted the lid on racism against black medical doctors at Groote Schuur Hospital.
He is also in charge of the orthopaedic surgery department run by celebrated spinal surgeon Professor Robert Dunn who is being investigated for a crude email in which he used the term “clinic bitch”.
Fieggen called a staff meeting on Friday to discuss the allegations but only 14 - eight white and six black staff - members out of 80 turned up. None of the claims in the reports were addressed by Fieggen, the hospital or the university.
While vice-chancellor Professor Mamokgethi Phakeng was celebrating women during a webinar on Friday, accompanied by chancellor Dr Precious Moloi-Motsepe and council chairperson Babalwa Ngonyama, she has yet to formally respond to the racist and sexist treatment of black women doctors and students on campus as highlighted by medics at Groote Schuur Hospital.
UCT proudly claims it is one of a handful of universities worldwide that has a women-led executive team, and several women make up the university’s team of deans and executive directors. But the university’s leading women - Phakeng, Moloi-Motsepe and Ngonyama have kept silent as news about black female academics and doctors being subjected to racist or sexist language broke at UCT.
Academics are afraid to speak openly in fear of intimidation, but a senior professor said there was no appetite by the university to act against the long-practiced racism in the faculty of health sciences, and that Dunn in particular, would not be reprimanded. Rather than reproach, it was pointed out that Dunn was “untouchable” and three years ago was rewarded by Phakeng’s executive for distinguished teaching.
Dunn in a letter clarified that he had not referred to postgraduate students but said he made a joke on an internal roster of orthopaedic trainee role allocations when Dr Groenewald, a white male was unable to operate due to a wrist bone that would not heal.
“I therefore had to restrict him to outpatient duties. Now, for an orthopaedic surgeon, this is terrible, as we live to operate.
“As a friendly joke, I annotated (non-union “clinic bitch”) under HIS name in the same vein that we loosely use the term ‘Life’s a bitch’. I intended no malice using the term in its well-recognised colloquial meaning of an unpleasant task or scenario, with non-union referring to the unhealed bone,” he said.
Associate Professor Lionel-Green-Thompson, dean of the faculty of health sciences, told staff this week that his office was appalled at the use of inappropriate language in a roster issued by Dunn.
“We will work with the relevant department to investigate the matter,” he said.
“As leaders in this community, occupying a privileged position in society, we must hold ourselves to a standard in which we filter both our expression and our conduct,” he said.
Green-Thompson said the responses which have followed publication of the articles have reinforced its commitment to listen with compassion. But none of the black complainants have been approached in this spirit of “care and compassion”.
UCT’s department of transformation is investigating the sexism case against Dunn.
But deputy vice-chancellor Professor Loretta Feris, in charge of transformation as part of Phakeng’s much-vaunted women’s executive, was yet to act.
Releasing the university’s 2019 report in June, Feris attempted to sugar-coat the truth from the reality laid bare in the report, which cast doubts on whether Phakeng and her executive were as committed to transformation as claimed publicly.
The Commission for Gender Equality’s legal team is investigating the racism and sexism claims at UCT and Groote Schuur Hospital.
Busobengwe Magadla, the National Education, Health and Allied Workers’ Union (Nehawu) Ikapa South Regional chairperson, repeated the union’s call for action to address issues around the students exposed to shocking racism.
Despite requests for comment from Phakeng since the 2019 report by the Ombudsman, which alluded to 37 complaints of bullying against her, and the damning findings for UCT on the Professor Bongani Mayosi report, she would rather post on Twitter or attend functions instead of addressing the controversies, particularly the university’s inhospitable climate for black African academics, especially women.
UCT’s marketing department said it takes seriously allegations of racism and sexism which are in conflict with the university’s values and commitment to build an equitable society based on respect and compassion for each other.
But the black staff members who raised the alarm over racism at Groote Schuur said their complaints have fallen on deaf ears, they have not been approached by the university to discuss their claims.
Earlier this month, UCT lost its status to Wits as South Africa’s top university.
But there was some cheer this week with ringing endorsement of its Twitterati vice-chancellor when UCT was voted the coolest university in a youth survey.
Sunday Independent