UN health rapporteur returns to a legal fight

Controversial Dr Tlaleng Mofokeng has concluded her six-year tenure as the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Health with praise from allies and blistering condemnation from critics. 

Mofokeng now returns to South Africa, where she is challenging a Health Professions Council of South Africa (HPCSA) ruling that found her guilty of unprofessional conduct. 

South Africa, Palestinian people, the Arab Group, and international nongovernmental organisations, including Amnesty International, lauded her during her farewell appearance at the 62nd session of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in Geneva. 

Presenting her final report, Mofokeng described serving as Special Rapporteur as “an honour of a lifetime”. 

But her farewell was overshadowed by a stinging intervention from accountability organisation UN Watch. 

Addressing the UNHRC, its executive director, Hillel Neuer, accused Mofokeng of having “praised Hamas, promoted prostitution in Teen Vogue, and called [former] British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak ‘filthy’”. His remarks followed the release of UN Watch’s latest report, “From Watchdogs to Ideologues”, which argues that a growing number of UN Special Rapporteurs have abandoned impartiality in favour of political activism. 

This week, Neuer told the SA Jewish Report that Mofokeng’s tenure would be remembered not for advancing the universal right to health, but for politicising it. 

“Instead of acting as an impartial UN expert, she used her office to promote ideological causes, demonise democratic states, especially Israel, and engage in conduct that fell well below the standards expected of a UN Special Rapporteur,” he said. 

“She frequently resorted to profane language and abusive attacks against those with whom she disagreed; publicly endorsed Hamas-linked figures; promoted Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions; and turned her UN platform into a vehicle for one-sided political advocacy rather than objective human rights analysis. That did lasting damage not only to her own credibility, but also to the credibility of the Special Rapporteur system.” 

Neuer said Mofokeng’s legacy should serve as “a cautionary tale”. 

“When UN mandate holders become political activists instead of independent experts, they erode public confidence in the UNHRC and weaken the credibility of the UN’s human rights mechanisms,” he said. 

“For so many of us in the international human rights community who once looked to South Africa for inspiration, this is yet another betrayal of Nelson Mandela’s legacy.” 

Mofokeng, a South African medical doctor and sexual and reproductive health advocate, was appointed by the UNHRC in July 2020. Her mandate was extended in 2023 and ended in June 2026. 

While supporters praised her outspoken advocacy on sexual and reproductive health rights, critics accused her of abandoning the impartiality required of an independent UN expert through repeated attacks on Israel, inflammatory social media posts, and overt political activism. 

Those concerns culminated in the HPCSA finding Mofokeng guilty of unprofessional conduct in October 2025 and fining her R10 000 for bringing the medical profession into disrepute through abusive and inappropriate language on social media. 

The complaint, lodged by the South African Zionist Federation (SAZF), stemmed from social media posts in which Mofokeng wrote “Fuck you Netanyahu” in response to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and later referred to Neuer as “You white man. Evil scum. Voetsek.” 

The matter is now before the courts. 

The SAZF confirmed this week that Mofokeng has instructed public interest law centre Section27 to approach the High Court to review and set aside both the HPCSA’s finding and the R10 000 sanction. 

“One of the grounds for review raised is the immunities and privileges that Dr Mofokeng enjoyed as the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Health under the Diplomatic Immunities and Privileges Act,” SAZF national chairperson Craig Pantanowitz told the SA Jewish Report. 

“As the matter is therefore currently before the courts, it would be inappropriate for the SAZF to comment until the judicial process has been concluded.” 

Mofokeng has meanwhile received public support from anti-Israel Gift of the Givers founder Dr Imtiaz Sooliman, who has offered to assist her with her legal challenge to the HPCSA ruling. 

Mofokeng’s return to South Africa is therefore likely to coincide with a closely watched legal battle over whether her status as a UN mandate holder shielded her from disciplinary action by her professional regulator. 

Anne Herzberg, legal adviser at Jerusalem-based NGO Monitor, said Mofokeng’s tenure reflected “an all-too-common problem of Special Rapporteur activity that is not in keeping with the UN Code of Conduct. 

“The one-sidedness of her approach and her highly offensive social media posts while serving all violate the Code, which requires Rapporteurs to carry out their work with objectivity, impartiality, and non-discrimination,” Herzberg told the SA Jewish Report. 

“They are also supposed to conduct themselves in a manner that does not bring the UN into disrepute. The fact that an outside standards body found Mofokeng to have acted unprofessionally should have been reason enough to dismiss her. 

“Unfortunately, however, the UN has no mechanism to enforce the Code and the committee that oversees rapporteur conduct is self-policing and largely serves as a blocking back for bad behaviour. The failure to hold Rapporteurs accountable is a major reason the UNHRC is held in such ill regard.” 

The criticism follows a series of controversies that dogged Mofokeng throughout her UN mandate. 

Most recently, Mofokeng demanded the release of Global Sumud Flotilla activists Saif Abu Keshek and Thiago Ávila after Israel detained them over alleged links to the Popular Conference for Palestinians Abroad, an organisation sanctioned by the United States Treasury for alleged ties to Hamas. Mofokeng ‒ who interacted with both activists during their visit to South Africa ‒ described their detention as unlawful and accused Israel of “abduction”, drawing further criticism that she had again crossed the line from human rights advocacy into political activism. 

She has repeatedly referred to Israel as “Israhell”, insisted that “Hamas are not terrorists”, and has been criticised for failing to publicly acknowledge or condemn the sexual violence committed on 7 October. 

As Mofokeng leaves office, her supporters continue to hail her as a fearless advocate for global health and human rights. Her critics argue that her tenure will be remembered less for advancing the right to health than for fuelling questions about impartiality, accountability, and the credibility of the UN Human Rights Council itself. 

Mofokeng had not responded to questions at the time of going to print.