Special Hearings — Health Sector Hearings — 1997-06-17

SOLLY RATEMANE: Thank you.  I would like to thank the Commission for allowing us to ventilate on some of our experiences at various institutions of learning.  I think issues of concern today cannot be complete without a statement of the experiences of medical students at various institutions, and I think I was particularly asked to talk about my experiences as a Black student at these universities, and I will do so without any apology.
 I want to preamble my submission with a quote from Reverend Martin Luther King Jnr, and I quote,
"But hatred and bitterness never cured a disease of fear, only love can do that.  Hatred paralyses life, love releases it.  Hatred confuses life, love harmonises it.  Hatred darkens life, love illuminates it".
 I really want to refer back to this quote in Reverend King's work many times in my presentation because I think these institutions, University of Natal and Wits University had both good and bad people.  The good people, unfortunately, could not be seen very clearly because they were absorbed in a system that was imposed on them by the government of the day.  One would look at that as complacency, that some of them were accomplices to the perpetuation of apartheid in learning institutions.   However, it appears that on global analysis that some of the good people who reacted to racist practices of the day were paralysed by this fear that Reverend King mentions in his works, and I think that fear still continues today.
We have since this morning had apologies about mentioning of names.  That still means we are afraid to be specific about our contributions because we think this would lead to certain consequences.  
 I hope that what the Commission can do for us is to help us unleash that fear and enable us to talk openly without fear, but we may end up in jail as we did in the past.
 With regard to the University of Natal let me start by indicating that I made a decision to study medicine whilst at Morris Isaacson High School in Soweto.  I lived in the township of Naledi which is in Deep Soweto.  It was a logical thing for me that the nearest university for me would be Witwatersrand University.  If I could not get money for accommodation at the student residence I would stay at home and use public transportation to and from the University on a daily basis.  
 On enquiring about such studies at Wits the first response was that I needed to get permission from the Minister to attend at this university as a Black student. Even when I passed the Joint Matriculation Board examinations with a first class pass this did not help the situation as the university had to oblige by government ruling that Black students needed the relevant permit to study at Wits.  
 We were encouraged to apply to the University of Natal as the State would give us bursaries payable by service to or in State institutions upon qualifying.  Many other students with good passes at Matric were similarly referred to other universities which were thought to be suitable for Blacks for various reasons.  
 Briefly stated my studies at the University of Natal were not a matter of choice but an act driven by the racism of institutions such as Wits in those days.  And again one poses the question, was it really Wits or the government of the day?  And was then active response from academics in these institutions to deal with this kind of discrimination.
 Despite having passed very well in Matric on arrival at the University of Natal I was informed that I had to do the preliminary year in order to learn practical English and be given a better background in physics, chemistry and biology.  There was no screening to determine whether I needed this bridging course or not.  I felt insulted as I had always done very well in these subjects but had no choice as this was the only institution that would allow me to study medicine.  This was indeed a waste of time but did not happen for White students even if they were weak in the sciences.
 I also recognised, upon arrival at the University of Natal, that almost all the top positions, in terms of senior lecturers and professors were occupied by White teachers.  This did some negative thing for me in terms of role modelling.  One did not immediately have access to good role models, and it seemed as though any effort Black doctors made they were always relegated to inferior positions in spite of the fact that this faculty was established to train Black students in medicine.  This situation changed although a little bit since I started studying there.
 Our accommodation consisted of neglected soldiers barracks modified into students dormitories.  This was at the foot of an oil refinery which daily emitted fumes that could be harmful to our health.  Also only Black students lived in this residence. The White students were accommodated in a more humane environment near the main campus of the University of Natal.  This we viewed as an instance of racism that was corrected many years after some of us had left the University.  These barracks could not be improved in any way to make them more habitable.  Who could we blame for this?  The University for its complacency or the government for apartheid?  These questions need to be revisited.
 In 1977, for some of us, was a turning point in terms of our attitude to the University of Natal.  We were informed that the government wanted to phase out African students from the medical faculty and train Indian and White students only in the future.  The Whites in Natal complained that their children were not allowed to train at this medical faculty and that the government deemed it fit to phase out Black African students.  We were also informed that the Black students were lucky that they had Medunsa, that is the Medical University of South Africa, all to themselves.
 In denouncing the racism related to this intended move we argued back and pointed to the imbalances in terms of the number of Black doctors compared to White doctors in South Africa.  In this context we believed that Medunsa should be a welcome addition rather than a replacement of the training available to Blacks in medicine.  The University reacted very little to this.  They accepted this measure, and under pressure from the Students Representative Council the University was able to take this matter back to government and this was taken finally to Parliament.  
 We had a strong feeling that some of the senior White members of the University were in total agreement with this move.  The mild protest from Black lecturers was ignored as they had no power in this institution. The student body stopped classes to deal with this matter.  I personally tabled the motion, seconded by Dr Jack Mpafuri, to the effect that we are going on an indefinite boycott of classes until this move was nullified.  This motion was carried unanimously and we planned an intensive national mobilisation in support of our protest.
 As I pointed out this matter was finally taken to Parliament and only then was this abominable decision temporarily reversed.  We still had the suspicion, which could not be tested at the time, that this evil intention would still be carried out, however, in a very subtle manner.  Indeed, as I speak now, most Black African students have been referred to Medunsa for medical training, some were not admitted.  There is a very small percentage of such students at the University of Natal.  
 Also senior Black lecturers could not be given professorships at the University, and much against their will some of them moved eventually to places such as Medunsa where they could be accorded some respect as human beings and also as teachers.  The University of Natal must still be revisited with regard to this matter.  
 At this stage I think a rift has been created between Indians and Africans by giving top positions to Indian lecturers and ignoring African lecturers.  I know that there are all efforts to normalise the situation but we are still not happy.  One hopes that the current transformation in the health sector will look at such issues in terms of who occupies which posts.  I strongly believe that some people are in these positions by default and not by merit.  Who do we blame, apartheid government or institutional racism?  
 In closing on this subject I need to mention that some of us will find it difficult to forgive the University of Natal for complicity in driving away Black African students, including Black teachers from this University.  Our anger around this issue was so intense that many of us boycotted graduation at this University.  I know that my class did so, the class before us and a few classes after us.  There was a feeling of a loss.  We could not associate ourselves with the University.
 Later there were attempts at reconciliation but we thought this simply touched the surface and we think this matter must still be reexamined.
 At this University in the same year I was detained at the beginning of September 1977 and placed in solitary confinement for 14 days, and it was a chilling experience to me that one of the landmarks of my detention was a morning in solitary confinement in a very small cell when a colonel came in and said, do you know that your leader is dead?  We killed him.  And the leader referred to was Steve Biko.  It was interesting how the death of Steve has impacted on many of us in different ways, and that it was even used to torture us in detention.
 It seemed no one knew where I had disappeared to and some students even thought I was on holiday.  I had been picked up from my room at 2 a.m. by the Security Police, driven to a police station in Durban and later to the one in Pietermaritzburg where I was interrogated about my possible knowledge of PAC recruitment drive of youth for military training.  
 Without personalising this issue as it happened to many of us, my concern was how easy it was for the Security Police to enter our residences, fetch and arrest students without a word to or from the University.  One could die in jail without one's family knowing.  The University claimed not to know of our whereabouts, however, we also had a strong feeling, and believed that some senior members of the University did know, and they were informed by the Police, but they were asked to keep quiet about their detention without trial and other forms of humiliation at the hands of the Security Police.  Who again do we blame, these individuals, the University or the Government?  These questions must still be answered.
 Our negative experiences at this University do not imply that we did not have moments of bliss and moments of passion about our condition as human beings, however, many of us could come up with other stories that merely shattered our confidence or eroded our egos.  Many students survived these onslaughts and tapped their inner resilience to conquer (...indistinct) and afford some moment of happiness, and I think this is an issue about those of us who survived.
 I will briefly state two or three points related to my training at Wits, and again I need to refer back to the initial opening remark that I think many individuals at these institutions were paralysed by the fear to react to the racism of the day that was really fully manipulated and regulated by the government of the day. 
 I had no difficulty in being admitted to specialise in psychiatry at Wits.  This would be the first attempt to train Blacks in this field and so I posed as a natural experimental subject.  I encouraged Dr Thabo Ranaka to join me in this venture and he obliged.  We already knew some aspects of the overt and covert racism at Wits and so we did not have a problem in agreeing to support each other in this journey.  We also wanted to function as students of psychiatry uninterested in the problems of the University as a whole.  However, certain experiences forced us to write letters and speak about issues that made us unhappy as they interfered with our training.  If these issues were common to all students, Black and White, most probably our approach would have been different.  
 On scrutiny we realised that we had problems far different from our White colleagues in the same field of study.  It became clear that such problems would not arise in their case because they were White and the University gave priority to their training needs.  
 Some examples included difficulties to get seniors to supervise us every day, so we were left on our own.  We had to be primarily on our own and hope for the best.  It took more than a year to get the Professor of Psychiatry to visit the hospital where we were placed for training.  It took another year to convince the department that it would help to rotate ward rounds so that our colleagues could understand the conditions under which we were trained and also capture the thin support system available to us.   
 This we argued would also help them understand the nature of mental diseases in the Black community as we were concerned that Black people were easily and glibly being diagnosed as schizophrenic or having problems of substance abuse, mainly alcohol and dagga.  Some of the problems were resolved as we raised them but our concern was so deep that Dr Ranaka made arrangements to complete his post-graduate studies at Medunsa as he noticed that we were being neglected.  He was never given the necessary transfer to Medunsa and against his will he completed at Wits.  It seems the issue there was to add and emphasise the fact that Wits also trains Blacks in psychiatry. 
 As part of our training in psychiatry we also had to do neurology.  Our lecturers in clinical work took place at the Wits Department of Neurology.  All seemed to go well in terms of the patients we were allowed to examine until one afternoon when Dr Ranaka and I were the only two postgraduate students who attended the clinical session. The senior specialist would not give us a patient to assess.  We were told that she was protecting us against embarrassment if the White patients were to refuse to be examined by Black doctors.  It was clear that we were only allowed to examine these patients in the presence of our White colleagues who would explain that we are also doctors. 
 On raising this matter with the psychiatry professor he was duly upset and tried to get clarification.  We do not know what he was told but it never happened again.  
 Of interest is that a White colleague was sent to us by the same specialist who could not give us patients to examine, and these were White patients, to ask us if we came to Wits to study or to raise political storms.  We did not have problems answering him as we noted that we have examined and offered advice to many White patients and they were happy with us as doctors.  
 It appears that the racism was in the mind of the particular specialist in neurology.  And I want to emphasise that because the Institution itself had clearly made a case against racism and it apparently was individuals within these institutions who felt that they were custodians of certain principles but indirectly or unwittingly they perpetuated apartheid in the training atmosphere.
 I close my submission on Wits by noting that it was in many ways difficult to know whether to blame isolated individuals, who were insensitive to our needs as Black students, or perhaps one should have directed the blame to the University as an accomplice in perpetuation of apartheid in this atmosphere.  For instance I do not know whether I should blame the Department of Psychiatry and even the individual in this department or the University for denying us a training in child psychiatry.
 I was allocated a rotation in this placement at TMI, which is one of the White centres providing training for our Department in Child and Adolescence Psychiatry, on the eve of my commencement at this centre a senior member of the Department of Psychiatry phoned me to inform me that I will not be going to that centre as the superintendent of the centre was White and racist and he was not happy to have Black doctors interview White children and White families.  My anger at my Department and the University was immeasurable.  
 I resisted completing my studies in psychiatry without this important training, hence I applied for a scholarship with the British Council to do an intensive postgraduate training in Child and Adolescence Psychiatry in London at the Institute of Psychiatry. Of interest is that as soon as one was placed there we saw everybody.  You were not given Black patients because you were a Black doctor, you were given patients as they came.  You were treated as a human being and the atmosphere was wonderful and one was able to complete the training with distinctions.
 This was a success story for me and it clearly demonstrated that where there is a will there is a way.  Who do I really blame for this denial to learn?  Who discussed the matter with the superintendent about a Black coming to see White children and White families?  What was the context of this discussion and who started it?  I did not allow anger and hatred to paralyse me but I proceeded to accomplish my goals, be it at great sacrifice to my personal and family life.
 One knows not how many other Black doctors, who were discouraged by this subtle atmosphere of discrimination who could not therefore complete their postgraduate training and who also disassociated themselves with these institutions.   I believe, therefore, that it is very, very important that whoever is involved in the transformation in the health sector, particularly looking at academic complexes, should take the needs of all students into consideration.  I think those Universities that are training both Black and White students must make a conscious effort not to just pay lip service to the fact that they are training so many Black students and so on.  They must go a further mile to say how do we empower ourselves to understand the needs of these Black students and what kind of mental preparation do we have.  Because I want to believe that as we are going through and have gone through some reconciliation with some of the senior members of staff at Wits and also at the University of Natal, it became clear to me that they didn't understand that their frame of mind was more informed by apartheid ruling and that it was governed or driven by apartheid. 
 I don't think it is going to be an easy thing simply for them to say we are training so many Blacks, but there must be workshops, there must be training, there must be an effective practical process to help them to empower themselves in understanding the needs of all students without discrimination.  Thank you.