Pravin Gordhan. (Delwyn Verasamy/M&G)
Former public enterprises minister Pravin Gordhan, one of the key figures in the fightback against state capture, has died at the age of 75.
Gordhan passed away in hospital in the early hours of Friday morning after being admitted earlier this week for treatment for cancer, his family said in a statement.
The family said Gordhan “passed away peacefully in hospital surrounded by his family, his closest friends and his lifelong comrades in the liberation struggle” after a “short, courageous battle with cancer”.
Gordhan retired after the May elections, having served in a number of cabinet portfolios since 2009 — including finance, local government and public enterprises — and also served as the commissioner of the South African Revenue Service (Sars) for a decade.
“Throughout this career as a political activist … he remained committed to building and strengthening public institutions to support our constitutional democracy. He did this with integrity, fearless courage and resilience,” the family statement said.
“He understood that participation in government was not merely a technical or technocratic role. Rather it was to advance the high public duty that the constitution bestows on all of us: to uplift the poor, eliminate inequalities, fight racism, greed and corruption.”
Godhan was a lifelong political activist who played a key role in the United Democratic Front (UDF) in the 1980s and in the ANC’s underground structures, and was detained in terms of the apartheid-era Internal Security Act on a number of occasions.
Popularly known as “PG”, Gordhan was a skilled technocrat and at the same time a nuanced political operator who was responsible for the creation of a network of civic organisations under the UDF’s umbrella.
He was part of the ANC’s negotiating team during the transition to democracy and served as one of the party’s MPs in the first post-apartheid parliament which sat from 1994.
Gordhan was appointed as finance minister in 2009 by then president Jacob Zuma, but went on to become one of his fiercest critics, leading the fightback against state capture from within the ANC.
He played a key role in President Cyril Ramaphosa’s first administration, but opted to retire from politics after the last elections.
“We have lost an outstanding leader whose unassuming persona belied the depth of intellect, integrity and energy with which he undertook his activism, his duty as a parliamentarian and his roles as a member of cabinet,” Ramaphosa said in a statement.
“Pravin Gordhan’s personal sacrifices and his endeavours and achievements in various sectors of our society endowed him with the insights, empathy and resilience that fuelled his service to the nation.”
Gordhan is survived by his wife Vanitha and daughters Anisha and Priyesha.