Makgoba 'jeopardised Aids funding'
2002-03-20 14:48
Pietermaritzburg - Professor Malegapuru Makgoba, the controversial sole survivor on the University of Natal's shortlist for its new vice chancellor, was engaged in correspondence that some people believe jeopardised massive overseas donor support for the University's Nelson R. Mandela School of Medicine.
Makgoba, in his current position as head of the Medical Research Council, approached a major US charitable foundation to delay their donation of some R30 million to the institute to research HIV/Aids.
In a letter, sent by Makgoba in July last year to the Doris Duke Foundation, he claimed that the University of Natal did not consult the national ministry or the MRC about the initiative.
He also claimed that the Wellcome Trust, which has already poured millions of rands into the university's HIV/Aids research, "raised concerns" regarding the initiatives.
He also implied that Oxford and Harvard researchers involved with the new institute were acting without the blessing of their universities' leadership. He then advised the foundation to postpone their meeting with the medical school.
"Otherwise, without provincial and national political support, the effort will flounder as many have done in the developing world."
According to medical school sources, only the intervention of senior university management, "who had to fly to the US and Europe to outline the true situation", saved the funding.
Makgoba's intervention soured relations between top academics at the medical school and the university's research division. A number of internationally-renowned academics have indicated they will resign if Makgoba is appointed.
They accuse Makgoba of giving the wrong facts. "The national minister had been kept briefed throughout, as had the provincial Health Ministry and the Education Ministry, whose head Professor Kader Asmal wrote an enthusiastic endorsement of the university's case. We are furious with Makgoba's behaviour," a lecturer said.
Makgoba is also in hot water over an allegedly anti-Indian statement he apparently made as guest speaker at the medical school in 2000, referring to Indian professors controlling the institute, replacing the colonial whites.
Makgoba said he will address the concerns at public campus meetings from March 25 to 27.
University spokesperson Kathy Waddington said the Doris Duke Foundation "has, since the correspondence, expressed its confidence in the university by making a substantial donation."