Ivan Toms was a passionate and dedicated activist. He was a prominent figure in the LGBTI rights movement in South Africa, a member of the anti-apartheid struggle and a leader in the anti-conscription movement.
Born in Durban on 11 July 1953, he matriculated at DHS and qualified as a medical doctor at UCT in 1976. Two life changing things happened to him while putting himself through University: he became a committed Christian, and he realised that he was gay. He gave years of dedicated service to the people of Cape Town first as a practising doctor and then as a high level administrator, being the Executive Director for City Health at the time of his death on 25 March 2008. In this capacity he overhauled systems and clinics, and recent evidence shows he achieved excellent results in reducing tuberculosis. He played a key part in the successful roll-out of ARVs that has distinguished the Western Cape from other parts of South Africa.
In 1986 he was a founder member of the Cape Town based organisation, Lesbians and Gays Against Oppression (LAGO) an organisation formed in part to link the struggles of LGBTI people with those of the broader anti-apartheid struggle. In 1987 when LAGO was disbanded Ivan, with a number of other activists, organised themselves into the Organisation of Lesbian and Gay Activists (OLGA). During his time with LAGO and OLGA Ivan was involved with meeting ANC leaders in exile to discuss LGBTI rights, he was instrumental in gaining OLGA membership of the UDF and in working towards the inclusion of LGBTI rights in the draft constitution of the ANC in 1991. Ivan was also an active member of the Western Cape Coalition for Gay and Lesbian Equality.
Ivan Toms was almost everything the former Apartheid government abhorred: proudly gay, vocally anti-conscription, strongly pro the poor and down-trodden and loudly anti-Apartheid.
In 1987 Ivan refused a call up to serve in the South Africa military. He was subsequently charged, found guilty and sentenced to 18 months in prison. He served nine of these before being released on bail pending an appeal which he ultimately won. During his time in Pollsmoor he was regarded as a bad influence on fellow prisoners and placed in solitary confinement for much of the time, but in the exercise yard and bathroom he was constantly abused and sexually molested. On one occasion he was brutally raped. He laid a charge, but nothing happened.
During the course of his trial he was put through a long and public campaign of anti-gay harassment (including propaganda posters reading “Toms is a fairy” and “Toms AIDS Test Positive”) as well as obscene graffiti and death threats. The issue of Ivan’s homosexuality was raised in his trial by the state in an attempt to smear him. He remained true to his identity and his convictions throughout this difficult time showing remarkable bravery and strength of character.
In the 1980s he was active in the End Conscription Campaign and through non-violent, direct action, punished by detention and jail, influenced the country towards a just peace.
In March 1989, as a conscienscious objector, he was sentenced to 630 days in jail for refusing to serve in the SADF. International adopted him as a prisoner of conscience. His appeal in the Supreme Court was lost in February 1990 and his jail sentence upheld. His appeal to the Appellate Division resulted in the ending of mandatory jail terms for refusers of military service. Amnesty
In the 90s Toms became co-ordinator of the National Progressive Primary Healthcare Network, and shared an office and a somewhat strained relationship with future (and present) Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, whom he regarded as arrogant and entirely useless.
The Order of the Baobab in Bronze was awarded to Ivan Toms by President Thabo Mbeki in 2006 for his outstanding contribution to the struggle against Apartheid and sexual discrimination.
Ivan Toms died very suddenly and unexpectedly in March this year, apparently because of a virulent strain of meningitis. Archibishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu conducted his memorial service at St Georges Cathedral in central Cape Town, at which he said, “Toms was an utterly selfless and a beautiful person. I thank God I met him.”
All the major LGBTI organisations paid tribute to the memory of Ivan Toms, saying he was “a great activist whose struggle along with those of his comrades was to lay the foundations for the rights and protections enjoyed by LGBTI people in South Africa today.”