The renowned African traditional medicine expert from the University of the Free State (UFS) says he is honoured that his contributions to scientific research that positively change the quality of life of South Africans and global citizens, is recognised with nomination for the NSTF-South32 Awards for 2024/2025.
Says Prof Matsabisa: “This means a lot to me. It means recognition of my contributions to Indigenous Knowledge Systems (IKS) and natural medicines pharmacology research in South Africa, in the region/continent and in the rest of the world. It means so much to me that I don’t even have the words to explain my feelings about this nomination. It means a lot for the people who moulded me as well as those that supported me.
“It means a lot to me, my staff and students, collaborators and our communities, because this was not a single-handed contribution. It means a lot to the funders of my research who saw the potential and trusted in my work. More so it means a lot to my family that had to hold the fort while I worked long hours and many days of travel to rural areas and abroad on my work commitments,” says Prof Matsabisa.
Over 40 years of consistency and belief
This is Prof Matsabisa’s first nomination on the back of more than 40 years of consistency and belief in traditional medicines development and valuation. As part of his work in pharmacology with special interest in medicine development from medicinal plants and natural medicines, Prof Matsabisa’s research on plants for malaria led to many national and international patents on new molecules, isolated from a traditional medicine plant, that were very effective in killing the malaria parasite.
Before joining the UFS, he worked at the South African Medical Research Council where he started the first intramural research unit for traditional medicines, the first at the time in South Africa. The unit quickly grew into modern, science, global laboratories for researching traditional medicines. In 2014, Prof Matsabisa joined the UFS and continued with pharmacology research in traditional medicine. He grew the department of Pharmacology with postgraduate student numbers and postdoctoral fellowships to an unmatched level at the UFS and any other South African university. He also built another state-of-the-art pharmacology and traditional medicines research facility as well as building multimillion-rand facilities in rural South African communities for post-harvesting and processing in preparation to meet market demands for quality raw material supplies and developing sustainable community business enterprises for job creation, wealth generation and skills development, utilisation and retention.
With Prof Matsabisa at the helm, the UFS became a global leader in medicines development and traditional medicines research. He started commercialising his research results jointly with communities and local and international multinational companies, opened research collaboration doors globally with top research institutions and universities, and created trusted collaborative research with communities and traditional health practitioners. He even brought the G20 to Bloemfontein – a once-in-a-lifetime event and the climax of his career.
Two major projects
About his nomination in the Lifetime Award category, Prof Matsabisa says it means the research work he has done over the years and continues to do has been recognised that it is not only meaningful and measurable, but it has societal impact as it changes the quality of all lives.
“Additionally, this research work has graduated many postgraduate students and some of the students we later employed and got to retain their skills that we developed in our research unit. I have continued to do research that creates meaningful appreciable jobs for communities and all South Africans.”
According to Prof Matsabisa, he is currently working on developing new medicines for diabetes, hypertension, pain, osteoarthritis and cancer. He already has promising results for cancer, diabetes and arthritis or inflammation. Prof Matsabisa also developed products for COVID-19 – in the form of capsules and throat sprays and produced health herbal teas and iced teas that are market-ready.
More importantly, Prof Matsabisa set his sights on two major projects this year: First is establishing a BRICS Natural Medicines Institute with UFS AMIDT being the Secretariat for the Institute. The first working group of this institute is already planned for the last week of September later this year. The target is to migrate AMITD to be an approved institute before the end of this year. The second project, which will be a turning point for him, is the establishment of a world-class WHO cGMP standard herbal medicines manufacturing and commercialisation pharmaceutical company. The company’s products are to be used in integrative medicine which is the short- to medium-term goal. He has to establish and pilot such centres or clinics that are open to the official use of proven, quality natural medicines products manufactured by his pharmaceutical company.