Limpopo Leader - Spring 2005 - University of Limpopo

Sky Mkuti, Goldmarks Makamure, Tapiwa Zvenyika
majoring in international politics. Third member of
UNILISA’s executive is treasurer Goldmarks Makamure,
a final-year psychology student from Masvingo in
Zimbabwe.
‘We found,’ they said, ‘that there were many issues
where international students needed to be
represented. There was no organisation to do this,
so we formed one.’
So UNILISA came into being in 2004 to assist with
the integration of international students into the local
scene, both socially and academically. The
Association organises gatherings and social functions,
as well as independence-day celebrations for each of
the countries represented on campus. There are moves
afoot to make contact with international students on
the Medunsa campus soon.
‘We’re proud to be here at Limpopo,’ the UNILISA
executive said. ‘The university has good academic
standards and infrastructure. Particularly the libraries
and the computer equipment,’ they added.
The various academic staffs on the two Limpopo
campuses have been drawn from as many parts of the
continent as the students. The best way of finding this
out is to become a regular reader of Limpopo
Leader, but listen to just two academics talking
about themselves and the University’s many-sided
African connections.
At Medunsa, here’s Professor Gboyega
Ogunbanjo, a smiling and friendly man from Nigeria
(now a naturalised South African) who is currently the
Deputy Dean (research) in the Faculty of Medicine.
His speciality is Family Medicine, and he talks
enthusiastically about initiatives in this field in the
Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Kenya.
Four family physicians from the DRC have qualified
with the Family Medicine master’s degree from
Medunsa The Family Medicine training programme
was initiated by the evangelical churches operating in
the DRC with input from the Department of Family
Medicine and Primary Health Care at Medunsa.
The churches run the mission hospitals where most
rural doctors work. This relationship hopefully will lead
to the establishment of family medicine postgraduate
courses being offered at the Kisangani and Kinshasa
medical schools. The present relationship between
Medunsa and the DRC evangelical churches is
supported by funding from the Belgian government.
Medunsa has also helped to establish a Department
of Family Medicine at Moi University in the west
Kenyan city of Eldoret.
Ogunbanjo shakes his head when asked about
joint research projects with these East and Central
African institutions. ‘The main problem has been lack
of resources for research in most parts of Africa. That’s
why these linkages with Medunsa are so important.
‘It’s a similar situation at Medunsa with its recent
merger with the University of the North. I see real
opportunities developing through the cross-pollination
of ideas and projects between the various faculties
and disciplines. Medunsa was the only medical
university in the whole of Africa. We have suffered
from this alienation and from the influence of other
faculties. So the merger makes good sense – even
though the distance between the two campuses
presents a real challenge at this stage.’
Ogunbanjo was born in Lagos in 1958. He did his
undergraduate training and internship at the University
of Lagos, and then completed his one-year national
service at Badagry General Hospital, a rural hospital
near the Benin border. This experience opened his
eyes to rural realities and needs. After four years,
Nigeria launched their Technical Aid Programme to
Africa and the Caribbean. Ogunbanjo jumped at the
opportunity of working abroad, and very soon found
himself doctoring in war-torn Mozambique.
‘I was based in Maputo,’ he recalls. ‘It was pretty
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