Office of the Chief Justice

REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA

OFFICE OF THE CHIEF JUSTICE

HONOURABLE JUDGE M F LEGODI’S CHAMBERS

ROOM 5.8, FIFTH FLOOR,

Cnr. Madiba & Paul Kruger Street

PRETORIA

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KEYNOTE ADDRESS BY JUDGE FRANCIS LEGODI ON: THE IMPORTANCE OF SHARING KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE AMONGST PROFESSIONS AND BEING OF SERVICE TO OUR RESPECTIVE COMMUNITIES: DELIVRED DURING THE ANNUAL CONFERENCE OF NETWORK: TOWAERDS UNITY FOR HEALTH ON 15 SEPTEMBER 2015 AT BIRCHWOOD HOTEL, SOUTH AFRICA.

Let me start by saying I feel particularly privileged and humbled to be part of this conference and given an opportunity to speak. It does not happen often that you find yourself outside the comfort zone of your office speaking on topics which have nothing to do with your profession.

For this, I want to thank the organisers of this conference. In particular, I want to thank men and women, who have made it possible for Network:Towards Unity For Health to survive for many years and to continue to play a meaningful, positive and important role in our respective communities.

I have seen many non-governmental organisations going down the drain due to lack of financial support. This organisation, I want to believe has survived many challenges because of the generosity of men and women who know that everything in life is about education, but most importantly, about good health.

These are men and women who know that true generosity, as they say, is not an occasional event, but that ‘it comes from the heart and permeates every aspect of one’s life, touching his time, money, talents and possessions’.

These are men and women who know that generosity as they say, ‘rises out of contentment with yourself and in helping others. These are men and women who know that ‘the best you can do in life is to add value to others’. For this, I want to say to all of them: ‘You are my heroes’.

It is because of this that I havedecided to talk to you about servanthood and the importance of sharing knowledge and experience amongst all professions. I do so, because the theme of your conference for this year is “Education for Change”.

They say inspiring words are better said through telling stories. I prefer to tell little stories at the risk of consuming time allocated to me. Not very long time ago, my mother who is more than 100 years old was at the brink of departing from this earth. We have all in the family given up,but at the same time still thankful that we are blessed to have her with us for so many years.

In the mist of all this, three strangers from the University of Pretoria were introduced to us, namely, Professor Hugo, Dr Mahuma and Dr Chauke. The home visits for the old lady were initiated and continuous check-ups at home based arrangement were followed to the latter until today.

It is almost two years now and the old lady is still with us, as ‘healthy as a horse’ and walking without an aid.

Professor Hugo, Dr Mahuma and Dr Chauke, I just want to say on behalf of my family: Thank you very much.May many more blessings and good health come your way.

I mention this story because out of it, we have learnt many things which we share as a family. We discovered that it is true as Robin Sharma puts it:

“Everyone who enters your life has a lesson to teach and a story to tell.

Every person you pass during the moments that make up your days represents an opportunity to show little more of the compassion and courtesy that defines your humanity.

A meaningful life is made up of a series of daily acts of decency and kindness, which ironically add up to something truly great over the course of a life time”.

That is what we have learnt from these three people and we want to say to them: “You are our heroes.” You just wish we could have in our communities the resources and thecapacity to ensure that home visits are provided for the majority of our people especially the senior citizens and the bed-ridden patients taking into account shortage of beds in our hospitals.

But there is another thing that we have learned as a family. Good health is everything in our lives and education on health matters is critical. I don’t know when last we had laughed in the house as a family before the old lady got better.

Lastly, the story made us to realise that true servant-hood as displayed by the 3 people, ‘is motivated by loving concern for others, and not a desire for personal glory’.

As they say “The first mark of servant-hood is the ability to put others ahead of yourself and your personal desires. It is more than being willing to put your agenda on hold. It means intentionally being aware of your people’s needs, available to help them and able to accept their desires as important”.

We are here today because of many of such people. It is when you get out of your profession to interact with many people like all delegates who are here today, that you realise that a good nation,‘is made out of people who are not motivated by manipulation or self-promotion, but rather by the desire to serve which is fuelled by love’.

I have now realised that every person is capable of being a servant to his or her people. But for that, you need people who are self-motivated. People who are prepared to volunteer and many of those people are here today and they too are my heroes. I want to believe, that is what makes this organisation to survive many challenges.

Not very long time, on the 6 June 2015, I heard a story of a young man by the name of Simon who is in the Gauteng Province. This young man was possessed by drugs. He was deep in drugs. But he changed and became a volunteer in his community and a story teller of his life.

I was so much overwhelmed to hear him on TV making a statement to this effect: “When your mind is turned in the right direction, you can do anything”. This is a profound statement from a young man who turned into someone great from a shuttered life.

As we speak today he teaches children about health matters. He teaches the youth about the danger of being involved in drugs. He is like a counsellor to many. What stops every one of us from doing that? I want to say this to Simon: “I don’t know you. But wherever you are, you are my hero”.

I have also discovered, unfortunately, late in my profession, that there are so many things that one can learn from other professionals. I have also learned the danger of being content with what we do in our respective professions only.

Our communities can be better served by all-rounders. Not very long time ago, I attended a session of community members in a township called Mamelodi around Pretoria.

This was a meeting organised by Dr Mahuma. Community volunteers, social workers, nurses, doctors and other professionals were there.

I was amazed how much we can learn from one another, but even most importantly, how effective we can be as society if all professionals were to interact with one another and combine their knowledge and expertise in the quest for the upliftment of our communities.

Just take one incident that can have a chain of so many unpleasant things: A drug addict in a family: The family members are harassed and the parents as a result are having high blood pressures. Everyone in the family is directly or indirectly affected and is living in depression. What do you need? You need a social worker, a doctor, a counsellor and you also need legal advice.

At that meeting which I attended in Mamelodi, as we were interacting with one another after the formalities,I found myself been questioned by the community volunteers who wanted to find out what they can do on legal issues of which they are confronted with as they do home visits. That says a lot about the role we can play in our communities as professionals. By the way, I am going back to Mamelodi community on 3 October 2015 to give a keynote address.

We also need to be sensitive with our communities as we interact with them bearing in mind that there are also cultural beliefs which have a bearing on health issues and which can only be addressed by educating one another.

Three weeks ago on a Radio I listened to a specialist Doctor by the name of Thandeka Mazibuko with keen interest. She spoke with passion about the importance of education on health matters and in particular concerning cancer and the treatment thereof. She too has become my heroine. Listening to her speaking with passion about treatment of cancer was inspiring.

She told a story of a lady who had a breast cancer and was adamant that she had no breast cancer. She insisted that her sickness was a spell resulting from a mosquito bite on her breast. I was really touched by this story, but most importantly, the story emphasises the importance of education in health matters.

There is only one expression which I know in health matters. That is, “Prevention is better than cure”. This is a very powerful expression. Prevention is achieved through education, but again, it needs many volunteers.

Just to emphasis the point, sometimes we think we know our bodies better than those who have spent many years studying the functioning of human bodies. If you repeat this story I am going to tell you outside the four corners of this room, I am going to deny it.

Not very long time, a colleague of mine felt sick. She felt weak and was breathing heavily. She decided to go to a heart hospital in Pretoria. She consulted with a heart specialist. She started telling the Doctor how busy she was and that she just wanted something that can make her to go back to work and complete a judgment which she wanted to deliver the following morning.

The doctor told her: “You are going nowhere madam judge”. My colleague was almost at the point of saying: ‘Who are you to give orders? I am the only one who gives orders’. But the doctor was smart. He anticipated the reaction andbefore the madam judge could react, the Doctor said: “This is the only opportunity I have to give an order to a judge. You are going nowhere but straight to ICU”. The rest is history. It suffices to mention that she did not have the opportunity go back to complete her judgment.

But when my colleague told the story, she was still in a panic and actually in a shock. She emphasised the point that we take things for granted when our bodies talk to us. We need education from you doctors and other health professionals to make us behave when we are being spoken to by our bodies.

The good thing out of the story ladies and gentlemen is that I have now been tasked by my Deputy Judge President to arrange with your team Professor Hugo to come to our court and to talk to the unconverted about what they can do to enhance and to refill their energy which is lost on a daily basis.

But, I want to believe that the doctors and other health professionals also need education from other professionals. It could be on legal issues, it could be on counselling when you are overwhelmed by the sufferings you see on a daily basis. The truth is, you are on the cold front of all sufferings.

It is the healthy mind and the good heart with a caring concern in you, which heal the sick. You know why? It is because you give them hope for life. In that way, they develop a positive attitude towards their treatment.

You see, there are these small acts with great love that bring about positive impact in the lives of many. It is these random acts of kindness, and something small we do that add value and joy to the lives of many people.

That happens when we share our expertise and knowledge with people around us. That happens when we spend time with other people showing a little bit of compassion, love and a sense of caring.

Last week, I was in Tzaneen, Limpopo Province talking to the traditional leaders on a topic: ‘Bills Of Rights and Culture’. It is a very sensitive topic. Whilst the more than 60 traditional leaders who were there may say they were empowered because we spoke about the rights to health care services, food and water as set out in section 27 of the Constitution and culture on the other hand which might have impact on section 27, I felt more empowered and enriched by their wisdom, knowledge, and passion for their tradition, culture and custom.

Perhaps it is true when they say “One can never pay in gratitude. One can only pay in kind somewhere else in life”.

Volunteering affords every one of us a chance to learn and most importantly a chance to help others and pay back the debt owed to those who cannot help themselves. It is fulfilling that today we are taking a trip to our communities.

I should stop here ladies and gentlemen. I thank you.

THE END

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