JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Pravin Gordhan, who served as a South African government minister for several years after beginning his political career as an opponent of apartheid, died Friday. He was 75 years old and had cancer.
Gordhan, a longtime member of the African National Congress party, retired from active politics after May’s election, when the ANC lost its parliamentary majority for the first time since it came to power in 1994.
“Mr. Gordhan passed away peacefully in hospital surrounded by his family, closest friends and longtime fellow freedom fighters in the early hours of this morning,” his family said in a statement early Friday, following his death in hospital this week.
“We have lost an outstanding leader whose unassuming persona was belied by the depth of intelligence, integrity and energy with which he approached his activism, his duties as a parliamentarian and his role as a cabinet member,” President Cyril Ramaphosa said in a statement.
A political activist since his teenage years, Gordhan joined the struggle against the racist and oppressive apartheid system and joined the underground structures of the ANC in the 1980s.
He was one of the negotiators in the country’s peaceful transition to constitutional democracy, becoming a member of parliament in 1994 after Nelson Mandela became the country’s first democratically elected president.
His last position in the government was as Minister of Public Enterprises from 2018 to 2024 as the Minister responsible for state-owned enterprises. He served two terms as Minister of Finance in 2009–2014 and again in 2015–2017.
From 1999 to 2009, Gordhan was the head of the South African Revenue Service, credited with transforming the country into a world-class tax and customs service.
Gordhan was an outspoken critic of corruption in the government and state-owned enterprises, and was one of the ministers who criticized the leadership of former president Jacob Zuma while he was still serving in his government.
