JUST IN | Beloved Port Elizabeth doctor dies
The one-woman phenomenon, Dr Elizabeth-Mamisa Chabula-Nxiweni, has died.
The 72- year-old succumbed last night after a short stay at the Life St George's Hospital, her daughter Siphokazi Sonjica confirmed.
The family would still meet to discuss funeral arrangements and provide details to the public, she said.
The cause of death is unconfirmed at this stage.
Aside from having the province's first field hospital being named after her - the one sponsored by Volkswagen and the German government - the mother of 10, had been a trailblazer in the medical sector.
While Chabula-Nxiweni has served in a number of positions including the role of a former Nelson Mandela Bay public health director, a maths and science teacher in the Transkei and a minister in the Presbyterian church, she is most well known for her pioneering work in institutionalised safe circumcision training among local traditional surgeons.
And her legacy continues through the Emmanuel Haven, a HIV/Aids day care facility and crèche in Motherwell which she founded.
The doctor - who only pursued her medical career at the then Medical University of SA (MEDUNSA) after having her seventh child - persistently fought to end the deaths and misery from traditional circumcision in SA.
Twice a year, in summer and winter, teenage boys from several of SA’s black tribal groups undergo a rite of passage in the form of circumcision rituals, where they are taught to “become men”.
They are restricted from drinking water — to lessen toilet visits — and may spend weeks healing in huts in remote rural areas, away from medical care.
Dozens of young men die each year, and many others endure lifelong pain and misery when the operation is bungled.
That’s why, three decades ago, Chabula-Nxiweni decided to intervene, wading into a subject that was already hypersensitive — but especially so for women, for whom it was out of bounds.
“I have no regrets at all,” she told AFP last year at her home in the eastern coastal city of Port Elizabeth.
“I was raising an alarm to government to do something as boys were dying and continue to die now from botched circumcisions. I had to take a stand,” she said at the time.
Her practice treats mostly young boys from Motherwell in Port Elizabeth who have endured mangled circumcisions. She cleaned septic wounds, applies medication and dressed mutilated penises.