Martin Bester gets to know Johannesburg mayor Dr Mpho Phalatse
Martin Bester was joined by the mayor of Johannesburg for a candid interview.
In 2005, Dr Mpho Phalatse, became qualified as a medical doctor and started an internship at Tembisa
Hospital. This was followed by community service in Hammanskraal, where she offered
services at Jubilee Hospital, as well as various clinics within the area.
During her community service year, Phalatse enrolled for project management studies through Cranefield College and now holds an Advanced Diploma and Postgraduate Diploma in Project Management and Programme Management.
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Phalatse is also a Certified Independent Medical Examiner (CIME) with the American Board of Independent Medical Examiners (ABIME).
Phalatse spent the next six years of her career exploring service delivery models in different contexts such as mining houses and proceeded to register her own company, rendering disability consulting services to SASSA in both Gauteng and the North-West.
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Seeing abject poverty in underdeveloped villages in the North-West drove Phalatse to suspend her business and return to Gauteng to acquire further skills, registering for an MMed in Public Health Medicine at Wits University in 2011, a move which would see her settling in the City of Johannesburg.
She went on to work as a Casualty Officer at the Alexandra Community Health Centre, and as a Sexual Assault Care Practitioner at the Far East Rand Hospital in Springs, while also serving on the Professional Conduct Committee of the Health Professions Council of South Africa. In the week that she was appointed MMC Health and Social Development, she was also appointed as a Medical Advisor in the Compensation Commission, an appointment which she had to turn down to serve the people of Johannesburg.
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Her pull to politics came at the Alex Clinic where the living conditions of the community translated into ongoing public health challenges in a vicious cycle which required principled government leadership.
She went on to become a DA PR Councillor in Johannesburg with the aim of contributing towards the repair and restoration of Alex Township, with the intention of reestablishing her business, but subsequently gave it all up when she was asked to serve as the MMC for Health and Social Development.
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As MMC, Phalatse championed the extension of service hours in clinics, as well as the city’s multipronged substance abuse prevention and treatment strategy, among many other achievements.
She’s a single mother of three children, aged 5, 11, and 18, and enjoys spending time with family and friends, walking, taking long drives, and hiking in serene contexts for quiet meditation.
During the lockdown, she started a career in corporate coaching through the Global Institute for Organisational Coaching, a skill she has been using to mentor and coach young people from disadvantaged backgrounds.
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Image Credit: Jacaranda FM