Former president Jacob Zuma is likely not going to attend the office funeral of Pravin Gordhan. (Photo by Esa Alexander/The Times/Gallo Images/Getty Images)
Former president Jacob Zuma will probably not be among the mourners who will pay their last respects at the official funeral of the late ANC activist and former cabinet minister Pravin Gordhan in Durban on Thursday.
Gordhan, 75, died from cancer last Friday.
uMmkhonto weSizwe (MK) party spokesperson Nhlamulo Ndhlela told the Mail & Guardian that he was “not aware” of any decision on the part of Zuma, who heads the breakaway party, to attend Gordhan’s funeral.
Gordhan was among those who assisted Zuma in leaving the country to join the ANC in exile after his release from prison in 1975 and worked with the former head of state in the liberation movement’s underground in the 1980s and early 1990s.
Zuma appointed Gordhan to his first cabinet in 2009 as finance minister in return for the support of the South African Communist Party and labour federation Cosatu in his campaign for the ANC presidency.
But their relationship soured and Zuma moved him to the cooperative governance department in 2014.
A year later, Zuma reappointed Gordhan to the finance ministry, to replace Des van Rooyen, who was in the job for only four days, in response to pressure from the banks and eventually the governing party.
Zuma fired Gordhan in April 2017 in his infamous midnight reshuffle and it was the former South African Revenue Services (Sars) commissioner who was to go on play a key role in the fightback against him, inside and outside the ANC.
Gordhan gave extensive evidence at the Zondo commission into state capture, placing Zuma squarely in the frame as being one of the key forces in the systematic looting of the fiscus and the hollowing out of institutions in the security cluster.
State protocol staff said on Wednesday that there had been no communication from Zuma’s office regarding his attendance at Gordhan’s funeral to be held at Durban’s International Convention Centre, which will be addressed by President Cyril Ramaphosa.
But there was no accreditation process for mourners and any member of the public would be allowed to attend the special official funeral category 2, with certain ceremonial elements being performed by the South African Police Service.
The funeral will be followed by a private cremation.
Former president Kgalema Motlanthe is expected to be among the mourners, along with ANC and Natal Indian Congress (NIC) veterans and sitting and retired cabinet members.
It is not yet clear whether former president Thabo Mbeki will be attending.
The ANC held a memorial for Gordhan — who served on its national executive committee up until December 2022 — at Durban’s Kendra Hall on Wednesday evening, which was attended by hundreds of people.
At the memorial, ANC provincial chair Siboniso Duma called on members and the party’s alliance partners to “close ranks” following vitriolic statements by the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) and members of the MK party in response to Gordhan’s death.
“There is a systematic agenda to plant seeds of division and tribalism in society. We must resist this as it is aimed at reintroducing racial segregation and at isolating certain members of society,” Duma said. “The attacks on Comrade Pravin Gordhan are aimed at ensuring that a feeling of marginalisation is strongly felt in the Indian community.”
Former KwaZulu-Natal premier WIllies Mchunu said it was “sad” that Gordhan’s family was witnessing the “mudslinging and vilification that is taking place in the public space”.
“It is not going to be easy, but Comrade PG has been resilient right throughout his life in the political space. The attack on PG is an attack on all of us, an attack on the direction of the ANC. Please find solace in that,” Mchunu said.
He said the ANC had a duty and a responsibility to be at the forefront of defending Gordhan’s image against his detractors, who were well aware of his contributions, but chose to ignore them.
“There is no amount of mudslinging that will undo his good work. There is no amount of vilification that will undo his good work,” Mchunu said. “As much as you are feeling pain, you should understand that the attack is not an attack on an individual, it is an attack on the direction of the ANC.”
ANC veteran Mac Maharaj said Gordhan was under attack from the EFF because of his role in enforcing tax collection and in preventing the capture of the Limpopo provincial government.
He said Gordhan had remained committed to the ANC despite his disappointment with its failure to deal with patronage networks and corruption, and was “frustrated” that those involved in state capture remained in the party and in government.
He said Gordhan and his family had suffered “pain” after some of his comrades had turned against him over his stand against corruption, but that he had remained steadfast in his commitment until his death.