Pravin Gordhan: A complex legacy of love and controversy

While his comrades eulogised him yesterday as one of the towering figures of the anti-apartheid struggle and post1994 democracy, there was plenty of hate directed against Pravin Gordhan by his erstwhile political enemies.

The extremes of emotions generated by the man who held a number of key Cabinet positions over the years, which had a massive impact on the country’s economy, proved that, in South African politics, there are no perfect saints, just as there are no complete sinners.

Gordhan’s life could never be etched in the simple extremes of black and white (and by that we don’t mean race), because the truth about him was in the shades of grey and the nuances of the man.

He was a principled anti-apartheid activist forced to live in the shadows, always looking over his shoulder when executing secret missions.

That may have been why he seemed to trust only a small circle of comrades in the ANC.

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He was a member of the SA Communist Party, yet espoused neoliberal policies which were so beneficial to the capitalist status quo that he became the darling of the fickle financial markets.

As the man who cleaned up and professionalised the SA Revenue Service, he also led the campaign to “join the dots” on state capture… yet also stayed on for a significant time as part of the administration of Jacob Zuma, the man at the heart of the state capture project.

Gordhan’s last role may well, sadly, form the bulk of his epitaph: he was the man who failed to rescue the country’s failing state-owned enterprises – and, if anything, made things worse.

Eskom and South African Airways are testament to his failure to execute proper turnaround strategies.

There can be no doubting, though, that he believed in – and loved – this country. Let that be what we remember him for.

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