Tributes for Struggle activist Bloch

CONDOLENCES and tributes have poured in for Struggle stalwart, education activist and expert Professor Graeme Bloch.

Bloch, the husband of former ANC deputy secretary-general Cheryl Carolus, was described as a stalwart and veteran by the ANC. According to the party, Bloch’s death marked the end of a revolutionary life that was dedicated to the freedom of the people of South Africa.

“All freedom-loving people of South Africa will sorely miss his dedication to the goal of building a non-racial, non-sexist and prosperous South Africa,” the ANC said in a statement yesterday.

Bloch was a central figure in the National Education Crisis Committee and the United Democratic Front at the height of the struggle in the 1980s.

He was detained, harassed and arrested by the apartheid security forces for his involvement in the liberation Struggle and banned between 1976 and 1981.

The ANC said Bloch will be remembered for his commitment to transformation, especially in the education sector.

At the time of his death, Bloch was a member of the UCT council, a director of the Lafarge Education Trust and sat on the board of Equal Education.

He was also a visiting adjunct professor at the Wits University’s Public and Development Management School and a senior researcher at the Mapungubwe Institute for Strategic Reflection.

Bloch was an education policy analyst at the Development Bank of Southern Africa and taught at UWC’s education faculty.

“The people of our country will treasure his memory as one of our most distinguished sons who consciously chose to fight a cruel and inhumane system at a time when it was extremely dangerous to do so. He contributed enormously to the downfall of apartheid and was one of the architects of our new democracy,” the governing party said.

DA spokesperson for Education, Lorraine Botha, extended her condolences to the family on behalf of the party. She stated that Bloch left a history on how quality education can be expanded in our country by considering the socio-economic challenges our learners continue to face.

“Education is key in redressing our past inequities and the way in which we establish greater individual prosperity. He will be remembered for his work in this area.”

STRUGGLE activist and education expert Graeme Bloch has died. He was 65 years old.