roberts worked  in human rights groups organising campaigns against government oppression and cruel treatment. in the case of modderdam, after legal interventions had failed, they organised the evacuation of about 10.000 people when their homes were demolished and people were threatened to be deported to the so-called ‘homelands’. the apartheid policy was that blacks were no real citizens of south africa and had to live in remote so-called ‘homelands’ where there were no job opportunities. they could only live in south africa temporarily, and in order to live in south africa they had to have a ‘pass’. the protest against these ‘pass laws’ was one of the key issues in the struggle against apartheid and has a long history. together with others roberts organised lots of campaigns, boycotts and protest marches. one of the famous actions was the cathedral fast in the st. george’s cathedral in cape town where people fasted for more than 20 days before easter in 1982 and which resulted in the suspension of the pass laws.