Johannesburg - President Cyril Ramaphosa and the ANC have paid tribute to well-known education activist and expert Graeme Bloch following his death.
Bloch, the husband of former ANC deputy secretary-general Cheryl Carolus, was described as a stalwart and veteran by the governing party.
Ramaphosa said he was 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.
“We are richer as a nation for Graeme’s intellectual and organisational leadership in the education sector, ushering us towards adopting a range of policies that opened the doors to millions of historically excluded citizens. Wishing his loved ones strength at this difficult time.“
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. #RIPGraemeBloch pic.twitter.com/c9r4cZtn1r
— Cyril Ramaphosa 🇿🇦 #StaySafe (@CyrilRamaphosa) April 9, 2021
The ANC said Bloch’s death marks 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 on Friday.
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 University of Cape Town 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 University of the Witwatersrand’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 in the University of the Western Cape’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.
Political Bureau