DM COMMUNITY CHAMPIONS OF THE YEAR 2022
Sergeant Busisiwe Mjwara, Tim de Maayer, Corene Conradie – our heroes who have selflessly helped others
A woman who devoted herself to serving the poor, a doctor who blew the whistle on shocking hospital conditions and a police diver who died in the line of duty are our joint Community Champions of the Year 2022.
Dr Tim de Maayer
In May, Dr Tim de Maayer, a paediatric gastroenterologist at Rahima Moosa Mother and Child Hospital (RMMCH), became so desperate about the conditions at his hospital, and the failure of the authorities to do anything about them that he penned an open letter published in DM168.
The letter was read tens of thousands of times. But it also embarrassed Gauteng’s MEC for health, which led to De Maayer’s suspension. However, a petition was started that quickly gathered 30,000 names. David Makhura, the premier at the time, stepped in and rescinded the suspension.
DM168 checked in on De Maayer to find out whether his stand had led to improvements and how he feels in retrospect.
Born in Belgium, he moved to SA in 1991 at the age of 15 and completed medical school in 2000.
“During my training, when I rotated through Coronation Hospital [later renamed RMMCH], I felt this is a public hospital I would bring my own children to. Yes, nurses were short-staffed, facilities were old, but all the paediatric staff oozed passion.”
Dr Tim de Maayer. (Photo: Felix Dlangamandla / Daily Maverick)
In 2009 he started working there. “But [the hospital] saw a steady slide… Supplies ran out, water has been a perpetual problem… Load shedding wreaked havoc…
“Workload also skyrocketed.
“Doctors did speak up. Complaints were raised. When I finally decided to ask Mark Heywood to publish the letter, it was after asking for the opinions of several wise colleagues. The nationwide support I received afterwards was humbling. It reminded me that you and I do have some power.”
Read in Daily Maverick: “Dr Tim de Maayer, Rahima Moosa hospital whistle-blower, suspended”
De Maayer says he hopes his letter gets people to think about whistle-blowing.
Since the outcry, the CEO of RMMCH has quietly been moved elsewhere. There is an acting CEO who all the health workers feel is more accessible and hands-on.
But have things actually changed?
“Yes and no. We were excluded from load shedding and surgeons are less likely to be faced with darkness while digging in someone’s abdomen. The sinking of a second borehole by Gift of the Givers seems to have resolved water outages.
“But overcrowding, understaffing, infectious outbreaks, shortages of drugs and equipment, understocked wards and infrastructure that should be condemned still interfere with healthcare delivery.”
Would he do it again?
“Absolutely… No hope means quitting, and quitting is not an option.”
Corene Conradie
In October 2019, wearing impossibly high yellow heels, Corene Conradie welcomed Dr Imtiaz Sooliman and Gift of the Givers to Graaff-Reinet in the Karoo.
The town was at breaking point after drought had emptied the Nqweba Dam.
A few months earlier, Conradie had witnessed a woman collapse from dehydration on a busy pavement and had stopped to help. When the ambulance arrived, she went with the woman to the hospital.
She discovered that the woman, her family and many residents of Umasizakhe township were seriously ill with diarrhoea as they had no access to clean water. Their plight galvanised her into action.
Conradie resigned from her job at an insurance company to dedicate herself to finding and providing water for communities in crisis. A single mom of three girls, she often worked long hours to keep the water project and her family going.
Read in Daily Maverick: “Gift of the Givers’ Imtiaz Sooliman warns of malnutrition crisis in SA, calls for cohesion, ubuntu, sacrifice”
She alerted Gift of the Givers about the situation, in which the poor often had to use their last money to buy drinking water.
After Sooliman visited the town where the super-organised Conradie was in action, he offered her a job as his project manager in the Eastern Cape.
Soon the woman in the Gift of the Givers bakkie became a familiar sight in the disaster-stricken province, appearing with food parcels or blankets, a smile and the greeting: “Hello, my darlings.”
She had swapped her heels for takkies and a green Gift of the Givers shirt.
Public relations officer at Gift of the Givers, Corene Conradie, with the food parcels distributed to the Jagersfontein mud disaster victims on 16 November 2022. (Photo: Gallo Images / Volksblad / Mlungisi Louw)
Her new role meant moving to East London, from where she runs operations for the organisation, driving long distances.
It has been an unprecedented year in the Eastern Cape. Food shortages, storms and water shortages have taken their toll on communities still reeling after Covid-19.
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Conradie says: “In many of the towns where I work, unemployment is rife. Malnutrition is increasing.
“But let me tell you what gives me hope. In the town of Rietbron, about 90% of people do not have jobs. Many are too young to qualify for a pension, and others don’t qualify for a grant. I asked them, how do you survive?
“What they told me gave me hope. We all come together and we share, they said. If I have a pot of food, I feed as many of my neighbours as possible.”
She said the beautiful hearts of the Karoo people had inspired the establishment of 50 soup kitchens where people can get one nutritious meal a day.
Sergeant Busisiwe Mjwara
It is only right to honour Sergeant Busisiwe Mjwara, a police diver who lost her life while trying to help others during the devastating KwaZulu-Natal floods in April.
Mjwara, a 42-year-old mother of two, has been described by colleagues as groundbreaking, brave, dedicated and warm-hearted, according to news reports.
She was a pioneer in a field traditionally dominated by men.
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Lieutenant-Colonel Schalk Scheepers, Mjwara’s unit commander, was quoted on News24 as saying: “[Mjwara] lived her life serving the community, helping families find closure. She was an inspiration to the younger generation and very precious to us. She served with passion.”
Mjwara worked at the Pietermaritzburg Search and Rescue Unit. She was one of more than 120 rescuers deployed in response to the floods in the greater eThekwini area.
On 17 April, Easter Sunday, she drowned while searching for a family of three who had been lost to the Msunduzi River.
The flood disaster is estimated to have left more than 400 people dead and 40,000 homeless. More than 12,000 houses were destroyed. Before her death, Mjwara rescued many people stranded by the floods.
Sergeant Busisiwe Mjwara. (Photo: Supplied)
She was born in Caluza, Pietermaritzburg, according to the SAPS, and joined the police in 2008. Her service began at the Hilton and Mooi River police stations’ community service centre. She joined the 10111 call centre as an operator in 2014, before moving on to the Flying Squad and the police diving unit.
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Another unit commander, Warrant Officer Frederick Brand, said: “She was a people’s person and loved by all whose paths crossed with hers. Her work ethic was amazing. She is one of those people that you cannot replace.”
According to the News24 report, Mjwara joined the Pietermaritzburg Search and Rescue Unit in 2016. Scheepers is quoted as saying that working there requires a special kind of character: “It’s the recovery of bodies. It is not an easy job. It takes a special character to work here. Many of us admired [Mjwara] for her bravery, grit and determination.
“Our members were confronted with the tragic reality of losing one of our own. We were gutted and heartbroken to hear of the loss of Busi.”
In footage captured by The Witness at Mjwara’s memorial service, her colleague Sergeant Jesse Maré said: “From the first time I worked with Busi, on every single call we went on, she was fearless, brave. To know Busi was to love Busi.”
A state funeral was held for her on 22 April. DM168
How we chose the People of the Year winners
In the past, Daily Maverick journalists decided who they thought warranted the title of Person of the Year, but for the second year running, we have asked readers to vote for their preferred choice, with the proviso that we still have the final say. Choosing the annual winners is a labour of love because that’s what it takes to get a bunch of DM editors to decide whether they agree or disagree with the choices of 13,000 readers. Over the next few days, we shall republish online all the results in various categories. – Heather Robertson, DM168 editor
This story first appeared in our weekly Daily Maverick 168 newspaper, which is available countrywide for R25.
It is such a shame that a nation like South Africa has the government it has. Surely with all this passion and help from these heroes the voting public must realize that we have to vote them out. The only reason that is not happening to me is the electorate think they will lose their benefits if the ANC goes. We need to change that urgently. We need a PR hero who can make that happen.