Brave, humble and honourable — Zondo praises Pravin Gordhan

Former chief justice Zondo visited the family of the late minister of public enterprise Pravin Gordhan at Reservoir Hills in KwaZulu-Natal. Image: SANDILE NDLOVU

Retired chief justice Raymond Zondo has described late struggle stalwart Pravin Gordhan as an honourable man whose legacy must be preserved with greater efforts to fight state capture and putting South Africa first. 

Zondo visited the Gordhan family in Durban on Wednesday ahead of the late minister’s memorial service, he praised Gordhan for his commitment to the liberation of South Africa and his brave fight against state capture, 

“I got to know Pravin Gordhan in the 80s but of course over the years he has been very active in South Africa. He played a particularly important role in relation to fighting state capture, he was very supportive of the commission that I chaired, he was a very brave man, humble, he always knew the right thing to do, and did it,” said Zondo.

Zondo chaired the commission, which investigated allegations of systematic corruption of public institutions by private interests. 

Gordhan — who served as commissioner for Sars and as finance minister, according to Zondo put up formidable resistance against an assault on the institutions. 

“He put up a big fight to prevent the capture of the National Treasury and of course many of you will remember his evidence in the commission which was very extensive and helped us understand what really happened. 

“He made a contribution to the liberation of South Africa, he made a very important contribution to fighting corruption and state capture and that is something all of us should try to emulate,” Zondo said.

The former chief justice said a befitting tribute to Gordhan’s life of service would be “to rededicate ourselves to fighting corruption and state capture, but to always remember to put the people first in whatever we do because throughout his life he put the people of South Africa first.”

Zondo praised Gordhan for how he handled his dismissal by former president Jacob Zuma from the Treasury. He also defended him against detractors. 

“He handled it with absolute dignity, in a very purposeful way because he knew what he was doing, he knew what those who were pursuing state capture were trying to do and he did not want to make it easy for them, and that was very important. 

“I’ve heard some of the things that have been said but those are by people who would never say anything good about him, those are people who have hated him for a long time. Some have accused him of corruption and yet they've never come up with any evidence, they have had all the opportunities but just say all sorts of things.

“Pravin Gordhan was an honourable man,” said Zondo. 

Gordhan’s funeral service will take place at the Inkosi Albert Luthuli International Convention Centre in Durban on Thursday. He was afforded an official category 2 service.

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