Ex-health MEC Thomas dies after long illness at 82
DR TRUDY Thomas, the Eastern Cape’s first health MEC in the democratic South Africa, has died aged 82.
Thomas, a lifelong health activist and democrat with a gentle but firm voice and a will of steel, died surrounded by family on Sunday after a long illness.
She was a pioneer of community health programmes in South Africa, and was active in the Eastern Cape during the apartheid era.
She was one of this province’s key nation builders of a democratic South Africa, serving as ANC MEC of health from 1994 to 1999, and is remembered for her instrumental role in building the post-apartheid provincial health department, which entailed bringing together and reconstructing the administrations of the former homelands of Transkei and Ciskei and sections of the former Cape Provincial Administration.
Her son-in-law and the author of her memoir
Healthy Outrage, Professor Franz Krüger, said the family was broken-hearted. “We’re very sad and will feel her going. We are, however, pleased at the full life she’s lived and the legacy she’s left behind for us.”
Thomas retired to live in Chintsa West with family, from where she continued to write until she suffered a stroke in 2016.
She had been living in Johannesburg with the family of her oldest daughter, Lindy, until the time of her death.
Former ANC MP and health MEC Dr Bevan Goqwana, who took over the reins as MEC after Thomas, expressed shock at her passing.
He said her positive contributions towards capacitating the public health system would be remembered forever.
“The challenge of repairing the health system was too big for the number of years she was MEC, but she left a huge mark,” he said.
Provincial health spokesman Lwandile Sicwetsha said: “The department extends messages of condolences to the family, relatives and colleagues of Dr Thomas. She laid a good foundation for public healthcare and her contribution to the healthcare sector is invaluable.”
Krüger said Thomas’s funeral arrangements were still being worked out.
“We are still finalising everything, but we are hoping to do something in the Eastern Cape in her honour. She lived and worked in the province for most of her life. It seems fitting that we should celebrate her there.”
Dr Thomas is survived by four children and six grandchildren. —