MAMPHELA RAMPHELE As a doctor, struggle icon, academic, author, top businesswoman and outspoken champion of the oppressed, Dr Mamphela Ramphele’s achievements are impressive enough; that she attained many of them as a black woman during apartheid is astounding. Ramphele was born in 1947 near what is now Polokwane, the daughter of school teachers. When she left high school, she wanted to become a doctor, at a time when this was difficult even for white women. She was accepted into the University of Natal’s medical school in Durban. Her years at university were formative ones: she became involved in politics and met the love of her life, Steve Biko. Ramphele and Biko became the foremost proponents of the Black Consciousness Movement, which aimed to give black people a sense of their worth and power. She was also dedicated to community upliftment, establishing clinics and literacy projects. As an activist, Ramphele suffered greatly at the hands of the apartheid government, from banishment to the murder in police custody of Biko in 1977, while she was pregnant with their son. During the 1980s, Ramphele became a published academic and in 1992 she earned her PhD at the University of Cape Town. In 1996, she made history when she became the university’s vice chancellor, the first black person and the first woman to be appointed to such a post in South Africa. In 2000, she became managing director for human development at the World Bank – the highest-ranking African member of the organisation. She held the post until 2004. Ramphele has since formed BEE investment company Circle Capital Ventures, of which she is chair, and sits on the board of MediClinic. She has won numerous prestigious awards and has 18 honorary degrees. #TMstaff
Posted on: Thu, 28 Aug 2014 09:15:00 +0000
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