Herbert Vilakazi

Professor Herbert M. Vilakazi (18 May 1943 in Nongoma – 26 January 2016 in Pretoria) was a South African sociologist. He was known for his opposition to South Africa's apartheid system, which motivated him to try to dismantle it from the inside by becoming a professor at the University of Transkei, despite the protests of the African National Congress. He was also a prominent critic of Western medicine, and promoted ubhejane as a treatment for HIV/AIDS.

Biography Vilakazi was born on 18 May 1943 in Nongoma, Zululand District Municipality, South Africa. In 1957, he moved to Hartford, Connecticut after his father accepted a teaching position there. In 1958, at the age of 15, he wrote a letter to Martin Luther King Jr., in which he praised King's then-recently published book Stride Toward Freedom: The Montgomery Story.

He died on 26 January 2016 of prostate cancer.