Dr Frances Ames (1920 - 2002): the paragon of integrity
Dr Frances Ames was a South African neurologist, psychiatrist and human rights activist. In 1964, she became the first woman to receive a Doctor of Medicine degree from the University of Cape Town (UCT).
Born in Pretoria and raised in Cape Town, Dr Ames attended Rustenburg Girls’ High School in Cape Town. She then studied for a medical degree at UCT which she completed in 1942.
Following her degree, she interned at Groote Schuur Hospital (GSH). She also worked in the Transkei (modern-day Wild Coast in the Eastern Cape) as a general practitioner. After earning her Doctor of Medicine, she became the head of the neurology department at GSH in 1976 and was made an associate professor in 1978.
After the death of the Black Consciousness leader in South Africa, Steve Biko, in September 1977, Dr Ames, Dr Trefor Jenkins (the former dean of the medical school at the University of Witwatersrand) and four others challenged the medical establishment and the apartheid government over the circumstances of Biko's’ death. They were outraged not only at his death but at the behaviour of the South African Medical and Dental Council (SAMDC) which had exonerated the two doctors who had seen the battered and bruised Biko after police had assaulted him. The doctors, Benjamin Tucker and Ivor Lang, had allowed Biko, despite being shackled and having slurred speech, to be transported naked in the back of a police van on a 1 100-kilometre journey from Port Elizabeth to Pretoria, where he died.
Born in Pretoria and raised in Cape Town, Dr Ames attended Rustenburg Girls’ High School in Cape Town. She then studied for a medical degree at UCT which she completed in 1942.
Following her degree, she interned at Groote Schuur Hospital (GSH). She also worked in the Transkei (modern-day Wild Coast in the Eastern Cape) as a general practitioner. After earning her Doctor of Medicine, she became the head of the neurology department at GSH in 1976 and was made an associate professor in 1978.
After the death of the Black Consciousness leader in South Africa, Steve Biko, in September 1977, Dr Ames, Dr Trefor Jenkins (the former dean of the medical school at the University of Witwatersrand) and four others challenged the medical establishment and the apartheid government over the circumstances of Biko's’ death. They were outraged not only at his death but at the behaviour of the South African Medical and Dental Council (SAMDC) which had exonerated the two doctors who had seen the battered and bruised Biko after police had assaulted him. The doctors, Benjamin Tucker and Ivor Lang, had allowed Biko, despite being shackled and having slurred speech, to be transported naked in the back of a police van on a 1 100-kilometre journey from Port Elizabeth to Pretoria, where he died.
“[Ames] was undoubtedly the driving force behind the [Biko] case...and kept up the momentum,” Dr Jenkins said. Of the 400 or so doctors who gathered at the University of the Witwatersrand to plan action, only Dr Ames and her associates stayed the course, fighting until the courts forced SAMDC to hold a full hearing into the behaviour of Drs Tucker and Lang. In leading this activism, Ames risked her job as head of neurology at GSH. Tucker was eventually struck off the register.
Ames retired in 1985 but continued to work part-time at both Valkenberg and Alexandra Hospital as a lecturer in the Department of Psychiatry and Mental Health at UCT.
In 1997, Dr Ames gave evidence at the medical hearings of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) and pointed out that Steve Biko was not the first but the 46th detainee to die in custody. She was singled out for praise by the TRC chairperson, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, as being one of a few doctors who stood up to the apartheid regime and held those doctors who had colluded with human rights abuses to account.
In 1999 Nelson Mandela awarded Dr Ames the Star of South Africa in recognition of her human rights advocacy.
Dr Ames died of leukemia in 2002. Her death was keenly felt by the staff of the Faculty of Health Sciences and all who knew and cherished her. Generations of medical graduates from UCT have been educated and mentored by her.
In 2012, the Faculty of Health Sciences celebrated 100 years. This conference room was renamed the Frances Ames Room during the centennial celebration to recognise the exemplary principles Dr Ames displayed. Her firmness of purpose remains a shining example to us all.