Pravin Gordhan, known to friends and comrades as “PG”, breathed his last on Friday morning. He will be remembered as a champion of revolutionary integrity and a tireless voice speaking out against the rot that had set in under former president Jacob Zuma.
As much as Gordhan will be feted as the activist who combined a towering intellect with a steely determination to overthrow apartheid, he spent the latter part of his life turning those same powers against some of his comrades, in particular Zuma, whose state capture project brought South Africa to its knees, even as much of the ANC membership defended the then ANC leader.
Gordhan made enemies both within and outside his party.
While he was not perfect, his shortcomings should not erase his enormous contribution in the fight against apartheid, later state capture, and the ongoing struggle to build a better country aspired to by all South Africans
A trusted friend and political ally of President Cyril Ramaphosa, Gordhan threw his authority and influence behind the pivotal campaign to have Ramaphosa elected ANC president in December 2017, finally unseating Zuma.
Yet it was those very qualities of tenacity, loyalty and a refusal to countenance fools that alienated him from many in the ANC, who regarded him as arrogant and driven only by his own counsel. His opposition to state capture came at a heavy personal price.
He will be remembered for turning the South African Revenue Service into a formidable revenue-collecting organisation, and as finance minister from 2009 until 25 May 2014.
In December 2015, Gordhan had to be recalled from the ministry of co-operative governance and traditional affairs to once again become finance minister after the rand had been battered with Zuma’s appointment of Des van Rooyen as finance minister.
Later, as minister of public enterprises he would preside over the public companies that had been ruined by state capture, which yielded mixed results. In part this reflected his loss of authority and the waning of his political star, becoming one of several cabinet ministers who failed to gain re-election to the ANC’s national executive committee in December 2022.
While he was not perfect, his shortcomings should not erase his enormous contribution in the fight against apartheid, later state capture, and the ongoing struggle to build a better country aspired to by all South Africans.
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