15 Facts About Malegapuru Makgoba

Malegapuru Makgoba went on to become the first senior registrar to fellow expatriate South African and President of Royal College of Physicians of London, Sir Raymond Hoffenberg, in 1983.

Malegapuru Makgoba was Reader in Molecular Endocrinology at the Royal Postgraduate Medical School London Malegapuru Makgoba was the first black South African to be selected to the prestigious National Institute of Health's Fogarty Visiting Programme in the late 1980s.

Malegapuru Makgoba left Wits University to join the South African Medical Research Council.

Malegapuru Makgoba was appointed the first black Chairperson of the MRC Board.

Malegapuru Makgoba thereafter served as President of the South African Medical Research Council between 1999 and 2002 and was involved in developing South Africa's AIDS strategy and the SA AIDS Vaccine Initiative.

Professor Malegapuru Makgoba joined the former University of Natal as its Vice-Chancellor in 2002, and oversaw its merger with the University of Durban-Westville into the University of KwaZulu-Natal.

Malegapuru Makgoba has been closely involved with the funding in 2011 of a new 4,000 square metre HIV and tuberculosis research Institute, KwaZulu-Natal Research Institute for TB and HIV at the university's medical school.

Shortly after his appointment as deputy vice chancellor of Wits, Malegapuru Makgoba announced to The Times Higher Education Supplement that it was his intention to replace the university's "dominant eurocentrism", and called the university leadership a "small inbred elite" In response, 13 senior staff compiled a dossier contradicting claims made in his curriculum vitae.

Malegapuru Makgoba responded with his own accusations, based on the personal files of the 13, of tax evasion, inconsistent salary scales, nepotism, lack of qualifications and misrepresentation of credentials.

Malegapuru Makgoba was temporarily suspended by the university for abusing his position to access the academics' personal files.

Later that year, Morrell brought a defamation case against Malegapuru Makgoba, primarily citing claims made about Morrell in an email sent out to staff.

When Van den Berg criticised this, Malegapuru Makgoba accused him racism, cowardice, insubordination and lack of academic productivity.

The university agreed that Van den Berg had not been grossly negligent in claiming to the press that Malegapuru Makgoba had no right to do so.

Malegapuru Makgoba denied these claims and relinquished his post pending the outcome of an enquiry.

Malegapuru Makgoba was found not guilty and resumed his position as Vice-Chancellor.