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Date : 29/07/2003
Source: The Presidency
Title: J Zuma: Launch of Doris Duke Medical Research Institute, Univ of Natal


ADDRESS BY THE DEPUTY PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA, JACOB ZUMA, ON THE OCCASION OF THE LAUNCH OF THE DORIS DUKE MEDICAL RESEARCH INSTITUTE, NELSON R MANDELA SCHOOL OF MEDICINE, University of Natal, Durban, 29 July 2003

The Premier, Dr Lionel Mtshali;
The Vice-Chancellor, Prof William Makgoba,
Ministers from the Provincial Government,
Members of the Diplomatic Corps;
Members of the University Community;
Esteemed Guests;

It is my great honour to be part of this important occasion, to officially open the Doris Duke Medical Research Institute.

I am also happy to be once again visiting this institution, given its contribution in the production of black medical practitioners, defying the apartheid doctrine, which was to confine black people into being hewers of wood and drawers of water, a direct demonstration of the racist and oppressive nature of the apartheid ideology and philosophy.

This medical school has a special place in our history. As we move towards celebrating 10 years of democracy, we recall how the school became a hotbed of political activity and one of the key centres of our struggle of all political persuasions in the struggle against apartheid.

The Alan Taylor Residence at Wentworth, which was raided by the police many times, provided an important springboard for advancing the liberation struggle in many ways.

The students produced by this school saw their role as more than merely learning to cure the ill, but also to bring about justice and dignity to all in our beloved country.

Many of the school's former students are making their mark in the country.

We can count amongst many, the KwaZulu-Natal Minister of Health, Dr Zweli Mkhize, and a few in the national cabinet including the Minister for Arts, Culture Science and Technology, Dr Ben Ngubane, and the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, as well as distinguished scientists such as Dr Ephraim Mokgokong, the chancellor of Medunsa.

We can also not forget one of the founders of the Black Consciousness Movement, Steve Biko, also a former student of this school.

The medical school at the time also made its mark in the field of community-based projects, initiated in isolated, poverty-stricken areas, providing important elements needed for basic health care.

It helped teach rural people good health and sanitation practices, provided advice and medicines and helped to co-ordinate health services in far-flung areas of the region. This is a programme that is even more relevant today given our focus in rural areas and I hope the university is continuing with this.

Given the school's contribution to the liberation of our people and to the restoration of human dignity in general, and to the development of the medical profession and political leaders in particular, as well, it is very appropriate that it was named after our icon, former President Nelson Mandela.

We would like to once again commend the medical school for the role it played in the anti-apartheid struggle by both defying an unjust regime as well as for the calibre of medical and political activists and leaders it produced in the furnace of the struggle.

This excellent example should serve as a model for the current crop of medical students and medical practitioners as we engage in the new struggle against HIV/AIDS, malaria, TB and all other infectious diseases.

The Doris Duke Research Institute is appropriate and necessary given that diseases such as malaria have been wreaking havoc amongst the populace of southern Africa. After all these years, people in southern Africa are still being disproportionately affected.

Research institutes like this one will assist our people on the sub-continent greatly in fighting these diseases and to ultimately emerge with a cure for these horrific and infectious diseases.

The establishment of this research institute also contributes immensely to addressing the challenges we face as a nation, particularly in relation to HIV and AIDS, which remains one of our greatest challenges.

I am reliably informed that the research and training to be carried out in this new institute will focus in great part on diseases affecting the poor and vulnerable in South Africa and indeed in the whole of Africa. These diseases, mainly HIV and AIDS, TB and malaria, have surely had a serious negative impact on the development prospects for many of our people who have been condemned to poverty and suffering.

In order to ensure that all South Africans are provided with health services that are effective and efficient, it is imperative that we have applied research to determine the effectiveness and impact that our policies and programs have.

More so, it is always important that we utilise the advances in modern technology to benefit our society, by ensuring that we develop research institutes that will not only look at the effectiveness of government programmes, but that would also seek to develop solutions to many of our health care challenges.

I am convinced, Programme Director, that this research institute will certainly play a critical role in ensuring that more and more research is done to assist government in dealing with all the health-related challenges that we face.

The success of this institution is certainly a contribution to our fundamental national task of changing the quality of lives of our people.

Let me once again congratulate this institution on the initiative to establish this centre. This gives us hope for the future in finding cures for diseases affecting our people.

I must, ladies and gentlemen, also use this opportunity to ask for the strengthening of partnerships against HIV/AIDS between government and the school.

We have within the South African National AIDS Council realised the urgent need of the representation of tertiary institutions on the council as we realise the enormous role you play in the fight against the epidemic. We know that we can each gain a lot from interaction around this matter. Our country has achieved a lot over the last nine years due to the fact that we work together as different formations and believe in a collective response to problems we face.

I would like to thank the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and other funders of this project for realising the importance of such an initiative. It is a step in the right direction indeed. I wish you all the best in all your endeavours. Yours is a good cause.

I thank you.

Enquiries: Ms Lakela Kaunda, Tel: 082 782 2575, Fax: 012 326 3010
Issued by The Presidency, 29 July 2003
Source: SAPA

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