Police offer R60,000 reward in hunt for killers of anti-apartheid activists

Police have offered a R60,000 reward in their hunt for the killers of Cape Town struggle activist Rosalie Bloch, 84, and her partner, Aubrey Jackson, 94.

The couple were tied up and murdered in May 2018 by burglars at their home in Wolmunster Road, Mowbray.

Bloch was an active member of the Black Sash, the Women’s Peace Movement and the Detainees Parents Support Committee in the 1970s and 1980s.

At a memorial service for the couple at the Baxter Theatre in Rondebosch last year, her son, Shaun, said she offered a refuge for his brother, Graeme, and sister-in-law, Cheryl Carolus, during the apartheid era.

Another brother, Lance, told mourners: “I want to speak to the ones who did it. It was in the same living room that was also the home for UDF [United Democratic Front] activists that my mother was killed in.

“They walked past the same dining room table around which we, as a family, came together, and killed Aubrey.”

Other tributes were delivered by Carolus and former finance minister Trevor Manuel, who said he used to visit the murdered couple’s home.

“We came into the house as part of a group of crazy 30-something-year-old activists who believed we could change the world,” he said.

“We were tolerated in the most amazing fashion by Rosalie in that home for meetings. People like ourselves from the [Cape] Flats had never seen the splendour of the house and the door was always open to us.

“Aubrey and Rosalie were not rich and did not spend their lives gathering material stuff. They worked with youth on the Cape Flats. They are defined by the exemplary lives they led. These were heinous acts and we call for justice to be done.”

Captain FC van Wyk said anyone with information about the killers was urged to contact the investigating officer, Detective Sergeant Kevin Kok, on 064-352-5493.