Staff Reporter.
Struggle activist and education expert Graeme Bloch has died. He was 65-years old.
Graeme’s brother Lance took to social media on Friday morning to make the announcement.
Graeme was battling a neurodegenerative disease, according to his brother. He passed away on Friday morning with his wife activist, Cheryl Carolus, by his side.
Bloch lectured at the University of the Western Cape for several years. He was a project manager at the Joint Education Trust and an executive member of the United Democratic Front (UDF) and NECC (National Eduction Crisis Committee) in the eighties.
Tributes have come in for activist and education expert Graeme Bloch, who died this week.
President Cyril Ramaphosa said SA was “richer as a nation for Graeme’s intellectual and organisational leadership in the education sector”.
“Deeply saddened to learn of the passing of Graeme Bloch. We recall and honour with gratitude and admiration his contribution to our struggle, from his early days as a passionate, long-haired student activist,” he said.
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.
The group said that Bloch, alongside others, organised winter and summer schools for young student activists, “which in truth were political training and leadership camps”.
Nelson Mandela Foundation said when we 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.
“We will miss his quiet determination and positive energy. We have lost a great South African.”