Anti-apartheid veteran and corruption fighter Gordhan dies

The veteran cabinet minister had been active in the struggle against apartheid since the early 1970s

South Africa's former finance minister, Pravin Gordhan, has died at the age of 75, his family said.

The anti-apartheid struggle veteran played a key role in South Africa's transition to democracy and helped negotiate the end of white-minority rule.

As well as finance minister, he occupied other top government and administrative roles since the 1990s until he announced his retirement from politics in May.

The veteran cabinet minister died in hospital early on Friday after "a short, courageous battle with cancer", his family said in a statement.

It added that he was "surrounded by his family, closest friends and his lifelong comrades in the liberation struggle when he passed away in the early hours this morning".

He is credited with turning around the national tax agency - the South African Revenue Service - and making it a credible and effective institution between 1999 to 2009.

Gordhan was then finance minister until 2014 and was seen as a competent safe pair of hands, who encouraged stability and discipline at the treasury.

He returned to the job the following year after the debacle when President Jacob Zuma appointed the relatively unknown David van Rooyen to the post and sacked him just four days later, following accusations that his appointment had been prompted by business allies of the president.

Gordhan was seen for many years as the face of resistance against widespread corruption known as "State Capture" during Zuma's presidency, and gave evidence about Zuma's role in South Africa's financial decay at a public inquiry known as the Zondo Commission.

Gordhan was born in 1949 in the eastern port city of Durban. His parents were traders, who had emigrated to South Africa from India in the 1920s.

From the early 1970s, Gordhan, as a pharmacy student, became involved in the struggle against white-minority rule. In the following decade he was a key figure in the United Democratic Front (UDF), a coalition of anti-apartheid organisations.

He was jailed several times for his activism.

In 1991, he co-chaired the Convention for a Democratic South Africa (Codesa), which was responsible for negotiating the end of apartheid and the establishment of a democratic government.

He was a prominent figure in the fight against "State Capture", a term used in South Africa to describe the alleged undue influence of private interests over state institutions, often for corrupt purposes.

In 2017, he was dramatically sacked in a midnight cabinet reshuffle as he was seen as a bulwark against corruption in President Zuma's administration, which was facing growing criticism.

The Gupta family of businessman, close associates of Zuma, were at the centre of these allegations. Both the Guptas and Zuma deny any wrongdoing.

In 2016, Gordhan was charged with fraud but the charges were later dropped. His allies said they were politically motivated.

He returned to government as public enterprises minister in 2018 after Zuma was ousted.

That was to be Gordhan's final cabinet role and his stellar record came under intense scrutiny.

His ministry was responsible for South Africa’s power utility Eskom at a time when rolling blackouts known as load-shedding were at an all-time high. He also came under fire for his handling of plans to sell part of the government's stake in the national airline South African Airways.

Some of those close to him believe he was incorrectly blamed for the chaos at these institutions.

"He was attacked, he was not very much liked. Not that we wanted to be liked. He didn’t do his work to be liked, he did his job because that’s what he was there for," said South Africa's former ambassador to the US Sheila Sisulu.

But Gordhan's "heroic reputation" as a "stalwart of the ANC" helped to shield him from the worst criticism he could have received for his performance as the minister responsible for fixing compromised state-owned enterprises, policy analyst Angelo Fick told the BBC.

"In real terms anyone else would certainly have been thought to have fallen foul."

Gordhan announced his retirement ahead of the May 2024 elections and kept a low profile since then.

"I have no regrets, no regrets… We have made our contribution," Gordhan said in a farewell message before his death.

In recent days, friends and social justice activists had gathered at a candlelit vigil for him, and heaped praise on the work he did to reform state institutions for the better.

In his tribute, President Cyril Ramaphosa described Gordhan as an outstanding leader and a beacon of the fight against corruption.

"He fought to liberate this country from the shackles of Apartheid, from inequality, from poverty and from hunger," Ramaphosa said.

Ramaphosa urged the country to remember Gordhan's "personal sacrifices" from his anti-apartheid activism days, right up to the last days he retired from active politics.

"He was driven by a vision of a society in which all people may achieve their full potential and in which all may realise their dreams."

Gordhan is survived by his wife Vanitha and their daughters Anisha and Priyesha.

Additional reporting by Natasha Booty

Go to BBCAfrica.com for more news from the African continent.

Follow us on Twitter @BBCAfrica, on Facebook at BBC Africa or on Instagram at bbcafrica