S.A. activist Ivan Toms, 54
Posted: Wednesday, April 16th, 2008 9:21 pmAn active opponent of apartheid, Dr Ivan Toms went on to campaign against conscription and homophobic discrimination in South Africa.
Born in Cape Town in 1953 Toms completed his medical degree at the University of Cape Town in 1976 and two years later was conscripted into the South African Defence Force (SADF). … In the end he served as a non-combatant doctor in Namibia.
A passionate Christian, Toms set up a clinic in the Crossroads squatter camp, peopled by penniless African migrants from the Eastern Cape in 1979. He was the only doctor serving 60,000 people. …
The openly gay Toms, whose three weeks’ fast in St George’s Cathedral as a protest against the deployment of the SADF in the townships cost him his gall bladder, was the target of dirty tricks campaigns, including posters lewdly denouncing his homosexuality. …
Dr Ivan Toms, physician and activist, was born on July 11, 1953, and was found dead on March 25, 2008, aged 54 … Read full obituary
