Anti-conscription fighter dies

2008-03-25 16:29

Cape Town - The City of Cape Town's director of health, former anti-conscription campaigner Ivan Toms, was found dead in his home on Tuesday morning, police said.

Superintendent Billy Jones said foul play was not suspected at this stage.

He said police used a key from a neighbour to gain access to Toms' Mowbray home at about 09:30 after colleagues became concerned that he had not turned up for work.

Toms' body was lying on his bed.

"There were no signs of forced entry, and there was no sign of a possible robbery. The deceased had no external wounds to the body," Jones said.

"But of course the normal post mortem (examination) will be conducted."

A leading role

Toms, who was born in 1953, completed a medical degree at the University of Cape Town before being conscripted in 1978 for national service in the defence force, which he performed as a non-combatant doctor.

On his return to Cape Town he played a leading role in setting up a much-needed clinic in the burgeoning squatter settlement of Crossroads, 15km outside Cape Town.

There he was the only doctor caring for 60 000 people.

The brutalities committed by members of the security forces in trying to clear the area of shacks made Toms decide that he would never again serve in the army, in which he then held the rank of lieutenant.

He became a founding member of the End Conscription Campaign, and in 1985 fasted for three weeks in Cape Town's St George's Cathedral in support of the campaign's call for troops not to be deployed in black townships.

"As a Christian I am obliged to say no, to say never again will I put on that SADF uniform," he said.

As a result, he, like other members of the campaign were subjected to systematic intimidation and harassment by a defence force dirty tricks brigade, including posters that targeted Toms' homosexuality.

In 1987 he defied call-up for a one month SADF camp, symbolically handing in his uniform at the reporting depot.

For this he was sentenced to 21 months in jail in Pollsmoor, of which he served nine.

In 1991, Toms became national co-ordinator of the National Progressive Primary Healthcare Network, responsible for developing a national Aids programme.

In 1996, he moved into local government, and in 2002 was appointed Cape Town's director of health, where he led the battle against tuberculosis and HIV/Aids, which included pioneering use of antiretrovirals.

'Bravest of the brave'

Toms was also an outspoken advocate of gay rights.

Two years ago President Thabo Mbeki awarded him the Order of the Baobab, in recognition of what the citation said was his "outstanding contribution to the struggle against apartheid and sexual discrimination".

A friend, Democratic Alliance Western Cape MPL Robin Carlisle, described his death as a "tragic and terrible loss for Cape Town".

"Small in stature, gentle and witty, he was the bravest of the brave," Carlisle said.

"He was too young to die."

- SAPA