WATCH | 'I once borrowed money from him': Zuma pays respects to Gordhan despite strained relationship

Despite a strained relationship with the late former finance minister Pravin Gordhan, former president Jacob Zuma has shared fond memories of the liberation struggle stalwart. 

Gordhan died on Friday after a short battle with cancer.

Zuma paid respects to Gordhan at a memorial service at the weekend for six MK Party members who died in a bus crash in KwaZulu-Natal

He reminisced about borrowing money from Gordhan to attend an ANC meeting in Eswatini which former president Thabo Mbeki also attended. 

“I went to borrow money from him (Gordhan),” Zuma said to laughter from the crowd.

“They were my cadres though things [later] got ruined. I went to him to borrow money when he was still working at a pharmacy. I asked for a certain amount of money and told him that I was headed to Eswatini, and I would be back. I asked him not to tell anyone. I was leaving on a Friday and returning on a Sunday,” he added.

Gordhan studied pharmacy at the University of Durban-Westville and then completed a postgraduate diploma in economics at the London School of Economics.

The relationship between Zuma and Gordhan soured during Zuma's presidency after Gordhan was fired in 2017.

Tributes have poured in from across the political arena, with many remembering Gordhan as a dedicated public servant who fought against state capture.

President Cyril Ramaphosa also expressed his deep sadness at the loss of Gordhan, describing him as an “outstanding leader”.

“We have lost an outstanding leader whose unassuming persona belied the depth of intellect, integrity and energy with which he undertook his activism, his duty as a parliamentarian and his roles as a member of cabinet.

“In the latter years of this service to the nation, and as a beacon of our fight against corruption, Pravin Gordhan stood up to derision and threats emanating from some in our nation who were scorched by his insistence that justice be dispensed against those who sought to undermine our democracy and raid our public resources and assets,” Ramaphosa said.

Gordon served as a finance minister until 2017 after he left Sars in 2009. He also served as minister of co-operative governance and traditional affairs from 2014 until 2015, and as minister of public enterprises from February 2018 until his March 2024 announcement of his planned retirement after the May general elections. Gordhan said he was retiring from politics to focus on his health and family.

“I will remember him as a committed social activist who dedicated his life to the struggle and the improvement of the material conditions of South Africans. At a time when we were in the steely grips of state capture, it was PG who stood fearlessly for justice and equality. He spoke with courage of his deep conviction and did not count the tremendous cost to him and his family,” said SA Revenue Service (Sars) commissioner Edward Kieswetter.

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