An 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). At this time resistance to serving in the SADF usually took the form of quitting the country but Toms could not contemplate it. Instead, he publicised his opposition to the SADF’s role both in the townships in the wake of the Soweto rising and in Angola and Namibia. 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. Crossroads itself was the scene of a great deal of both criminal and political violence and in September 1983 there was a three-week confrontation between the black squatters and the authorities. The SADF was called in to pull down huts.

Sickened by the brutality, Toms — now an SADF reservist — announced that he would not serve in the SADF again. He became a founder member of the End Conscription Campaign. In 1985 the State again intervened in Crossroads; the resulting violence left more than 18 people dead. Toms manned his clinic in the midst of the fighting through the four-day siege.

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.

In 1987 the SADF called up Toms for a training camp. He refused and was put on trial. Much was made of his homosexuality. The Anglican Bishop David Russell testified on his behalf. Nevertheless Toms was sentenced to 21 months in prison. He served nine months.

In 1991 he became the national co-ordinator of the National Progressive Primary Healthcare Network. He became director of Cape Town’s city health department in 2002.

Toms, small of stature, was a warm and generous man, passionate in all he did. He had two Dalmatians to whom he was devoted, was an enthusiastic cyclist, had a sharp sense of humour and devoted enormous energy to public health causes, especially Aids.

In 2006 he was decorated by President Mbeki with the Order of the Baobab for “his outstanding contribution to the struggle against apartheid and sexual discrimination”.

Dr Ivan Toms, physician and activist, was born on July 11, 1953, and was found dead on March 25, 2008, aged 54