Education expert Graeme Bloch fearless fighter for justice and equality iol.co.za - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from iol.co.za Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
OBITUARY | At the forefront of the struggle, Graeme Bloch was a shining beacon He helped form the End Conscription Campaign and was part of the launch of the United Democratic Front 11 April 2021 - 17:55 By Chris Barron
Graeme Bloch, who has died in Cape Town at the age of 65, was at the cutting edge of the struggle against apartheid in the Western Cape.
When he was 20, he was detained for two weeks and banned for five years for leading University of Cape Town students on a “solidarity march” after the June 1976 uprisings. When his banning order was lifted in 1981 he immediately resumed open anti-apartheid activism, becoming a founding member of the Detainee Parents Support Committee the same year. In 1983 he was part of the formation of the End Conscription Campaign, an organisation that rejected military service under the apartheid government.
SADTU Statement on the passing on of Education Activist, Graeme Bloch polity.org.za - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from polity.org.za Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Tributes pour in for gentle giant Graeme Bloch TimesLIVE > By TimesLIVE - 10 April 2021 - 08:16 Graeme Bloch, who died this week, pictured with his wife, Cheryl Carolus. File photo. Image: John Liebenberg
Tributes have come in for activist and education expert Graeme Bloch, who died this week.
David Africa, director of the African Centre for Security and Intelligence Praxis (ACSIP), wrote on behalf of the Western Cape Students Congress described Bloch the husband of former ANC deputy secretary-general Cheryl Carolus as a “gentle giant”.
“It is said that those we love, who influenced and shaped us, and left their mark, will never leave us. They walk beside us every day, unseen, unheard, but always near. Graeme left his mark on many young activists and remained patient despite our radical and sometimes irrational ideas. For this and so many other fine qualities, he will always be loved, and missed,” they said on Friday.
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It was with great sadness that the Nelson Mandela Foundation heard of Graeme Bloch’s passing. He and his life partner Cheryl Carolus have supported us from inception, as friends and trusted advisers, and were always held in high regard by Madiba. Our thoughts are with Cheryl and the broader family at this most difficult time.
Graeme first rose to prominence as a student activist in the seventies and eighties and made important contributions to the UDF and the NECC. His academic career in education and his activist commitment made his voice a significant one in the discourses around transforming South Africa’s apartheid education system. He was one of the first cohorts of activists to be recruited into government after the 1994 election.