Katzen, who owned a medical practice in the Bloemfontein residential area of Heidedal, succumbed to Covid-19 complications on Wednesday following his weeks-long battle against the novel virus. Amongst those paying tribute to his legacy via impassioned posts on social media, are his younger brother and fellow doctor, Colin Katzen.

The younger Katzen, who is based in New Zealand, thanks his older brother for his selfless gestures of love in a touching Facebook post, typed out not too long after word of the Bloemfontein doctor’s death began making the rounds. 

The post reads: “I was inspired by you, I learned from you, I inherited the same stubbornness. You changed our household because you challenged ideas.” The deceased’s brother, who also specialises in family and sports medicine, says it is befitting that Enver died defending his patients, implying that he may have contracted the virus from one of his patients. Andrussa Goliath, a Heidedaller, likened Katzen to Batman, making Heidedal his Gotham.

Hubert Barlow says the deceased was always “willing to walk the extra mile for his patients”. 

Katzen was not a native of Bloemfontein. He was born in Middelburg and finished off his schooling at Uitenhage High School in 1979. Thereafter he received his medical training at the prestigious University of Stellenbosch and is reported to have received further training in sports medicine at the University of Pretoria. He occupied the sports doctor position for the Free State under/19 and 21 teams, as well as the Free State Vodacom team. He also sat on the organising committee of the 2003 Cricket World Cup that took place on the African continent the first time.

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