A fond farewell to prof of the people

At the end of December, Professor Leslie London will draw the curtain on an illustrious, multi-decade career as an academic and social justice advocate. His name goes down in history as a renowned public health scholar whose work has shaped national health systems and informed global advocacy. But it’s Professor London’s courage and humility that set him apart from others in his field. His dedication to addressing health inequity in South Africa and on the continent, and serving the people – especially those living on the margins – will be deeply woven into the fabric of society for years to come.

As he wraps up this season of his career and prepares for a working retirement, London’s family, friends, colleagues, and mentees filled a lecture theatre on the University of Cape Town’s (UCT) Faculty of Health Sciences (FHS) campus to honour his indelible contribution to the field of public health. The hybrid event was organised by the School of Public Health – London’s academic home for more than 30 years – and was held on Tuesday, 9 December.

“I hope today that we can spend some time together in shared joy of a remarkable career of Professor London. Organising today’s programme was in fact very challenging because Prof London is loved by so many different groups. We actually needed at least three days to give everyone an opportunity to share their gratitude and acknowledgement of his career of service to the people. Unfortunately, time is not on our side,” said Associate Professor Nisha Jacob, who hosted the afternoon event. Associate Professor Jacob is a public health specialist and was taught by London during her undergraduate training at UCT. Since she qualified, London became her mentor, cheerleader and “an influential guide in my life and the first person I contact if I have a dilemma at work”.

Thoughtful, wise, brave

In welcoming the audience, Professor Susan Cleary, the head of the School of Public Health in the Division of Public Health Medicine, said in the demanding rhythm of university life, farewell events like London’s allow the academic community to pause and appreciate the length and depth of an academic career.

She said the first time she worked closely with London was about 15 years ago. She described him as thoughtful, wise, brave and principled. At the time, she told the audience, he had first introduced group coaching and leadership development, using the thinking environment model, to the school.
 

“We are privileged tonight to be able to reflect on such a distinguished career.”

“This was particularly profound because it was through this intervention that I saw how we might learn to live our value of equity in practice; to actually practice what we preach.

“We are privileged tonight to be able to reflect on such a distinguished career,” Professor Cleary said. “This [event] is an opportunity to appreciate the immense value that Leslie has brought, as well as the value that we have been able to co-create together.”

One by one as speakers took to the podium, they shared reflections and special anecdotes of their time working alongside him in academia and civil society. Throughout these reflections, one common theme emerged: London is kind and courageous and his commitment to social justice is beyond compare. Here’s what they had to say (in order of appearance).

Associate Professor Tracey Naledi – public health specialist and the deputy dean of social accountability and health systems in the FHS.

“Leslie is a scholar, a strategist, activist and a compass. He is someone from whom integrity is not an intellectual idea but lived in practice. My own relationship with Leslie unfolded in many chapters. He helped me choose public health [as a discipline]. He guided me through specialist training. He was always humble, always ethical, always generous, and always centred on people.

“Leslie taught me something profound: that public health is not just a profession, it’s an act of activism. And if we are serious about advancing health, then we must have the courage to confront and dismantle the structural and social determinants that keep people from living full and healthy lives.

“Leslie, your fingerprints are everywhere – on this department, on the national health system, on global advocacy, and most importantly on the lives of the people you have taught, mentored, supervised, and championed over decades. As you step back from formal roles, your legacy does not step back with you. It lives on in the values you embody – your intellectual honesty, justice, courage, humility and the unwavering belief that public health is not just a discipline, but a responsibility.”

Colette Solomon – director of the Women on Farms Project

“Leslie London has been a staunch supporter of farm workers’ struggles for many, many decades. Leslie, you are loved by so many women farm workers. Over the years the Women on Farms Project has invited Leslie to many of our workshops, many of our events, which often meant that Leslie had to do 10- to 20-minute inputs in Afrikaans. And despite the difference in language, in educational background, Leslie was always able to bridge the gap.
 

“Leslie, we thank you so much for your accessibility over the years.”

“For Leslie, the research he shares with farm workers is to empower them with critical information that they can use to mobilise their own communities. Leslie, we thank you so much for your accessibility over the years, for your humility and humanity and for being a constant ally and support for the struggle of women farm workers, and for being a true comrade.

Fatima Hassan – director of the Health Justice Initiative

“There are many aspects to Leslie’s long illustrious work in activism, but today we are just going to share a few of those. I don’t think we can do justice to Leslie’s huge contribution to the ethical practice of public health, not just in South Africa, but globally too.

As he prepares for retirement, friends, family, colleagues and mentees gathered to celebrate Prof Leslie London’s illustrious career.

“The Leslie we know in civil society is not a professor. He’s not a doctor. He is an activist first. Leslie is the most straightforward person; he calls it how he sees it and he’s the funniest person you will ever meet. He is someone with the highest standards of integrity and has always, in all of his work, displayed such formidable courage – no matter the professional cost to him – to speak truth to power. His commitment to fairness, to justice, to ethics, to human rights is unparalleled.”

Associate Professor Lionel Green-Thompson – the dean of the FHS

“Leslie, we are very grateful today to celebrate your dialogue with communities, and I think the dialogue has been with communities inside the university and outside. And it’s a really critical one.

“Over the last couple of days, I’ve come to understand what the Jewish blessing L’chaim means, which is “to life”. And I’ve come to learn that the meaning of L’chaim is that life is not solitude. It’s always connected. And so, thank you very much. In your life, just by living it by natural conviction of your academic commitment, you’ve done that.

Academics need a village to thrive

Addressing the audience, London started by thanking speakers for their generous words. He also thanked the many people he has worked with over the years – colleagues in the faculty, in the national Department of Health, his students, and civil society organisations for the instrumental role they’ve played in his career.

“Many of you are owed a great debt [of gratitude] because academics can’t flourish if [we] weren’t part of a big village. And for me, that’s been very important. It’s been the epitome of what I do,” London said.

He reflected on his time at UCT, which started as an undergraduate MBChB student activist in the 1980’s – a tumultuous time in South Africa’s history – and an academic in the same faculty later on. He said it would be remiss not to highlight his privileges as a white South African during apartheid and how it served to his advantage. And one example stands out. When his father was involved in a serious car accident and was hospitalised for months, the family did not have funding reserves, but they managed financially thanks to their network of support. This, he said, would’ve been very different for a black family. Similarly, he told the audience, he secured a job at UCT because “I knew people” and because he had “a network of colleagues who believed in a more progressive form of health”.

“I am acutely aware that I have benefited from leading influence in ways that black South Africans would never have been able to benefit from. So, when I hear pushback against employee equity policies from members of the UCT community, I think we need to reflect on our own academic trajectories,” he said.

“So, how we got to where we are. What helped us get there? [We should] think about our careers and transgenerational influences before we launch any assaults on employment equity.”

A matter that matters

As he concluded his reflections, London said it was important to end his talk by foregrounding a matter that matters: the genocide in Palestine.
 

“We cannot ignore the genocide that has been visited on the people of Gaza.”

“I want to be clear: the attack on Israeli settlements on 7 October [2023] involved multiple war crimes. There is no doubt about that. But what has followed has been a deliberate policy of brutalisation of the civilian people, as punishment, on a scale that has exceeded any kind of terror seen before,” he said.

London continued: “I will use the G-word and say that we cannot ignore the genocide that has been visited on the people of Gaza … [and] at some point, we have to ask: What is it to be an academic if the plight of the most vulnerable is not of concern?”