It was all about Pravin Gordhan last week. His death dominated the news. Both the television and print media were full of praise for the ANC Struggle stalwart. Dozens of letters praising the man for his outstanding work as Sars Commissioner and Finance Minister appeared in the papers.
Television, too, devoted many hours to Gordhan. It gave full coverage to the ANC memorial service held in his honour in Johannesburg and to his funeral in Durban.
The special state funeral was held at Durban’s famous International Convention Centre. And they were all there to bid farewell to their comrade: the president, cabinet ministers, religious, civic and union leaders, friends and relatives. Even retired Chief Justice Zondo was there to see that the funeral was not captured by his critics and the Guptas. Everybody was there to show their faces and pay their last respects.
Speaker after speaker heaped praise on Pravin Gordhan. Such an outpouring of grief and speeches that one dare not utter a bad word against him it would have been sacrilegious. Veteran Mac Maharaj said that it if it was not for men like Gordhan, South Africa would have been a banana republic. The president said that “Gordhan’s spear has fallen and it is time for us to pick it up” and drive out those corrupt people who are still busy swindling the state coffers.
As he lay in his coffin covered by the South African flag, he must have been smiling to hear all the glowing tributes heaped upon him. But you could have been forgiven for wondering if all this adulation was not a bit over-done.
Which brings me to the famous eulogy by Mark Antony at Caesar’s funeral: “The evil that man do lives after them; The good is oft interred with their bones.”
As great as Shakespeare was, I think he got this one wrong. I have yet to go to a funeral and hear a speaker say anything bad about the deceased. It has become customary to paint a glowing picture of the deceased. But was Gordhan such a saint as he was made out to be at his funeral? He had his faults and also his critics, especially when he was public enterprises minister.
While he excelled at Sars and as minister of finance, he was a flop as minister of public enterprises. It is alleged that he was defiant at times, was not transparent some times and there was some conflict of interest at SAA.
The EFF was rather blunt, saying that “he went to his grave with his crimes unpunished”. My grouse was he was not bold enough to speak out against corruption. He might have spoken out in the corridors and at meetings, but he did not go far enough and expose the corrupt in his midst.
Possibly, the public enterprises portfolio was too vast for one man to oversee. Eskom, SAA and Transnet were already wallowing in corruption. Could one man wave his magic wand and make corruption disappear overnight? Look at Prasa. The auditor-general has found almost R4 billion of unauthorised expenditure at the passenger rail agency.
A relatively quiet man, Pravin Gordhan did not hog the limelight. But he went out with a grand funeral.
T MARKANDAN | Kloof
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