Twitter has emerged as the battleground of UCT Vice-Chancellor Professor Mamokgethi Phakeng’s latest troubles, but whether it is her or her “social media manager” tweeting, is still unclear.
Using the platform to engage with over 280 000 followers, Phakeng recently referenced her mental health in a number of posts following increasing pressure to investigate her management and allegations of misconduct against her.
A council sitting on Saturday resolved that a retired judge be appointed to decide whether she is guilty of gross misconduct.
Long road ahead but, as much as I am concerned about a few things, I remain confident that the truth will prevail. Thank you, once again, for your support - it is my fuel when the going gets tough🙏🏾 pic.twitter.com/7NLcjQ5FYj
— Mamokgethi Phakeng🏳️🌈 (@FabAcademic) October 16, 2022
In one reply to a commentator on Twitter, Phakeng said she “almost went the Mayosi route in 2020” and thanked God for her psychiatric treatment which she says she is still on.
“I am stronger now,” she tweeted in a post that has since been deleted.
This reply resulted in a backlash, particularly from the family of Professor Bongani Mayosi, the late Dean of Health Sciences at the UCT who took his own life in July 2018.
However, in an article published by The Sowetan on Monday morning, Phakeng’s nephew took responsibility for the tweet.
The Sowetan said when 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”.
Over the weekend, the sister of the late professor, advocate Ncumisa Mayosi’s letter to Phakeng was made public.
The aggrieved sister said Phakeng’s invocation of her brother’s surname, in the context of what she sought to communicate in her Twitter message, was “disturbing and displays a total lack of empathy, compassion and, I daresay, emotional intelligence on your part”.
“And that you chose to call up his name for such narcissistic reasons, is nothing short of disgusting. Further, it is irresponsible of you to be communicating to your many followers in the manner that you do about how my brother died,” Mayosi wrote.
She said Phakeng’s references to her brother in that manner were “opportunistic and self-serving”, and Phakeng had no right to refer to his name for this end.
“It is immoral, unethical, and quite simply, hurtful for you to do so.
“The fact that my brother took his own life Ms Phakeng, does not make the Mayosi name synonymous with suicide. This is clearly what you now understand to be the case, and seek to communicate to your many Twitter followers.
“Either that, or you are merely using his name for effect, to create atmosphere in your social media world. You do this for your own gratuitous reasons, using my brother’s name flippantly to add flavour to a narrative that concerns you and only you, with no regard to my late brother and his legacy, or for that matter what may be your very own followers’ mental health concerns and status, and certainly with no consideration for, or permissions from, my late brother’s family,” she said.
The letter was also sent to the chairperson of the council, which Mayosi said sought to hold Phakeng accountable.
“Further, from what I have read in the mainstream media, your current difficulties at UCT have nothing to do with my brother. Why you choose to associate whatever it is you may be going through with the manner in which Bongani ended his life is incredulous. Egotistical on your part. And grotesque,” she wrote.
Queries to the UCT spokesperson Elijah Moholola had not yet been responded to and once received, the story will be updated.
The full letter by advocate Mayosi:
“Good afternoon Vice-Chancellor Phakeng, we have not interacted since the period of my brother’s passing in 2018.
I trust that you are, and have remained, well. Your Twitter message, which is attached to this email, was brought to my attention today.
I write to you in relation to this Twitter message. While I have no presence on this social media platform, I am told that it is one where you have a following of some 284 500 people (close to 300 000) which, in my view, is a significant influence.
Your invocation of my brother’s surname, in the context of what you sought to communicate in this Twitter message, is disturbing and displays a total lack of empathy, compassion and, I daresay, emotional intelligence on your part.
And that you chose to call up his name for such narcissistic reasons, is nothing short of disgusting. Further, it is irresponsible of you to be communicating to your many followers in the manner that you do about how my brother died.
This is a matter of public record. Your doing so now is not only superfluous, but it is also redundant given the fact that we as his family were proactive in going public immediately after his death by communicating that it was brought about by himself.
The fact that my brother took his own life Ms Phakeng, does not make the Mayosi name synonymous with suicide. This is clearly what you now understand to be the case, and seek to communicate to your many Twitter followers.
Either that, or you are merely using his name for effect, to create atmosphere in your social media world. You do this for your own gratuitous reasons, using my brother’s name flippantly to add flavour to a narrative that concerns you and only you, with no regard to my late brother and his legacy, or for that matter what may be your very own followers’ mental health concerns and status, and certainly with no consideration for, or permissions from, my late brother’s family.
That same surname of my brother’s that you so carelessly invoke in this way happens to belong to and be shared by my brother’s mother – who lives – his children, his remaining siblings, his many nephews and nieces.
Your references to my brother in this manner are opportunistic and self-serving. 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 and so on and so on, does not know or cannot see that – and you have been doing this for years – is beyond my family’s comprehension.
Further, from what I have read in the mainstream media, your current difficulties at UCT have nothing to do with my brother. Why you choose to associate whatever it is you may be going through with the manner in which Bongani ended his life is incredulous. Egotistical on your part. And grotesque.
For all of these reasons, this letter seeks to hold you accountable. 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.
Regards, Ncumisa Mayosi
Advocate of the High Court of South Africa
Member of the Cape Bar of Advocates
EDUCATION