Ndebele said Gordhan helped connect the dots and helped people to set aside their differences and focus on a common goal for all South Africans. The late Pravin Gordhan. Picture: David Ritchie
Former KwaZulu-Natal Premier and Ambassador Sbu Ndebele described former minister Pravin Gordhan as a master in organisation and strengthening the anti-apartheid movement.
Gordhan passed away on Friday and the ANC has paid tribute to one of its stalwarts at various memorial services in Gauteng and in KwaZulu-Natal.
Gordhan served as Minister of Finance from 2009 until 2014 and again from 2015 until 2017.
He also served as Minister of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs from 2014 until 2015, and as Minister of Public Enterprises from February 2018 until his March 2024 announcement of planned retirement.
He was appointed as Commissioner of the South African Revenue Service in 1999, after a period as deputy commissioner.
His contribution to the public sector arose from his involvement in the anti-apartheid Struggle, including his role in student and civic movements in the 1970s and ‘80s, as an executive member of the Natal Indian Congress and military operative in the armed wing of the ANC.
“He was so focused on organising and bringing people in and he was never one to complain.
“He would approach organisation’s that no one else would think about ‒ like a small tennis table organisation that had nothing to do with politics and he would bring them in because he was connecting people through a common thread, which was the injustice of apartheid and all it entailed,” Ndebele said.
He said Gordhan helped connect the dots and helped people to set aside their differences and focus on a common goal for all South Africans.
On Wednesday, at a memorial service for Gordhan held in Durban, the provincial ANC chairperson Siboniso Duma also highlighted Gordhan’s skills as an organiser.
Duma said Gordhan is credited with the success of many student activism, rent boycotts and national stay-away of workers.
“All activities that he organised sent shivers down the spine of apartheid ministers.”
Duma said Gordhan and the ANC had received negative comments on social media platforms since the news of his death had been announced.
“We understand that leaders of the ANC will always evoke different feelings and emotions.
“Our main task therefore, is to expose the youth of today to the phenomenal leadership of Mr Fixer, as he was commonly known.
This is the leader, who touched the lives of many people at their very core throughout his life,” Duma said.
The Mercury