University of Cape Town vice-chancellor Prof Mamokgethi Phakeng’s nephew has taken responsibility for a tweet comparing her to a senior colleague who committed suicide four years ago.
Reached for comment, Phakeng referred Sowetan to her social media manager, Ndumiso Nkosi, who told Sowetan that he had had access to her social media accounts since July, and had her permission to engage with her followers on her behalf. .
Phakeng has been at the centre of a storm at the University of Cape Town where her opponents accuse her of governance shortcomings while supporters see her as a victim of a racial witch hunt.
Responding to some of the comments arising from the UCT row suggesting that she could end up taking her own life, Phakeng – through Nkosi – said that she “almost went the Mayosi route”, in reference to the late prof Bongani Mayosi, the former dean of health sciences at UCT who took his own life in 2018, apparently because of racism at UCT.
Mayosi’s sister, Ncumisa Mayosi, criticised Phakeng for mentioning her late brother on social media, saying it was “disturbing and displays a total lack of empathy, compassion and, I dare say, emotional intelligence on your part”.
She copied Phakeng in the email sent to the UCT council chairperson Babalwa Ngonyama.
“You have no right to refer to his name for this end. It is immoral, unethical and quite simply hurtful for you to do so. Why someone with your inflated sense of importance and intelligence, competence, education, knowledge does not know or cannot see that – and you have been doing this for years – is beyond my family’s comprehension.”
She added: “I am requesting you to stop invoking my brother’s name and surname, and what you think you know of him and his life story in pursuit of such dubious ends. I have copied the chairperson of council in this email (and Marius Lund [office of the registrar] to ensure that this gets to her in the absence of another email address I am aware of linked to the chair) not because I seek to defame or malign you, but because, to the extent that your conduct may have institutional repercussions, the chairperson is appraised of it and this email,” wrote Mayosi in a letter published in an online publication.
Nkosi – who regards Phakeng as his mother “because she has been playing that role since birth” – took responsibility, saying he had been managing the account since July.
He also defended himself against being insensitive on the issue of suicide, pointing out that Phakeng twice attempted to take her own life and that the conversation on social media referenced conditions at UCT pushing Mayosi to suicide.
“My mother attempted suicide twice over the past few years and is currently on medication. People have been suggesting that UCT wants to do to her what it did to the late prof Bongani Mayosi, so it was important that we clarify that she is actually in a better position now than in 2020. I assume she is but I must say I still analyse everything she says because she knows how to act strong when she’s hurting.”
Acknowledging that the language he used was “definitely insensitive”, he did not think so at the time because the method of Mayosi’s death was publicly known.
Nkosi challenged Ncumisa, accusing her of acting in bad faith because he had explained to her that he was the person behind the tweets.
“She sent the letter to News24 before sending it to my mom – this makes me question her motives, particularly around this time when there’s an orchestrated media attack on my mom. No one knows what she goes through, but I do.
“So I will not think twice before defending her against anything and anyone. Seeing her break down every night is not nice at all but it has become my reality. She called me out for the comment but I clarified and she understood.”
Nkosi said while he had initially intended to apologise to the Mayosi family as a whole, he had since changed his mind.
“I was prepared to apologise until I saw Ncumisa’s letter. My mom hasn’t read it and I encouraged her not to look at it for the sake of her mental health. I insist that Ncumisa did not write that letter in good faith – this is why I am not prepared to apologise to her but to the rest of the Mayosi family.”
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