Objections: Minister of Public Enterprises Pravin Gordhan has cried oul over ANC secretary general Fikile Mbalula’s threats to give him the boot. (Gulshan Khana/AFP)
Pravin Gordhan faced the end of his life with no regrets and the same stoicism that marked his career in the struggle and the state, former finance minister Trevor Manuel said on Friday.
“As he lived with courage and conviction, without regrets about the path he had chosen in life, right to the very end, Pravin was able to demonstrate the same determination, the same singleness of purpose, in the way he addressed this,” Manuel told a briefing the Ahmed Kathrada Foundation held on behalf of Gordhan’s family.
Manuel said he visited Gordhan in hospital with former deputy finance minister Mcebisi Jonas on Thursday. Gordhan thanked them for coming to see him.
“And then he said, with the greatest of courage: ‘As you can see the end is nigh.’”
Gordhan died of cancer early on Friday, four months into retirement.
He served as minister of public enterprises until May but informed President Cyril Ramaphosa’s executive that he would not return to government after the 29 May elections.
Manuel said Gordhan’s dogged commitment to political activism and public service, regardless of the cost, drew inspiration from Italian Marxist philosopher Antonio Gramsci’s words: “It seems to me that a man ought to be deeply convinced that the source of his own moral force is in himself, his very energy and will.”
“If you asked Pravin about what drove him, why he was never pessimistic in the face of anything, you could go back to this.”
Manuel paid tribute to Gordhan’s central role in organising mass mobilisation against the apartheid regime in the late 1970s and early 1980s, saying it had his “DNA all over it”.
It was Gordhan’s thinking, he said, that the mass protest movement should converge from student, religious, cultural and civic organisations, which then joined under the umbrella of the United Democratic Front (UDF) in 1983.
“The idea of a broad united front was given rise to on the balcony of the flat that he lived in on Edward Street.”
Gordhan succeeded Manuel as finance minister in 2009. In 2017, during his second stint in the portfolio, he was fired by then president Jacob Zuma for resisting state capture. In 2018, Ramaphosa appointed him to head the department of public enterprises.
Manuel said when Gordhan’s legacy is weighed, it should be borne in mind how hard it is to undo the damage corruption did to parastatals.
“Almost the sole objective of state capture was to liquidate all of our state-owned enterprises,” he said.
“And so by the time PG is assigned to that department, the cupboards are bare, the debt is high. Look at the debt service costs for Transnet, Eskom … the list is endless. He had to work with the hand he was dealt, and that context becomes very important.
“I think it is very important that we recognise PG’s in rebuilding and giving a new sense of purpose and place to our state-owned enterprises.”
Manuel said it was more complex to rebuild the state in the wake of the Zuma years than it was 30 years ago after the fall of apartheid because “the resources are not there … you are not starting from ground zero”.
“It is a continuous struggle. What we hope is that the state will be able to protect the gains that are made and continue to advance.”
He said those who had worked closely with Gordhan shared his belief that it was worth the effort, whatever the setbacks.
“We can’t give up that fight. There has to be an even deeper commitment to ensure that we can deliver the objective of a democracy that impacts on the lives of our people is commitment we cannot relent on.”
President Cyril Ramaphosa paid tribute to Gordhan as a stalwart of not only the struggle against apartheid but the fight against corruption.
“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 cabinet member,” the president said.
“In the latter years of this service to the nation, and as a beacon of our fight against corruption, Pravin Gordhan stood up to derision and threats emanating from some in our nation whom were scorched by his insistence that justice be dispensed against those who sought to undermine our democracy and raid our public resources and assets.”
Gordhan will receive an official funeral next week.