Parvin Jamnadas Gordhan, the former Finance Minister of South Africa and an apartheid freedom fighter, has died at the age of 75 after battling with cancer.
According to Gordhan’s family, the former minister died on the morning of Friday, September 13, 2024, in the hospital (not disclosed) after a short battle with cancer.
He is survived by his wife Vanitha and his two daughters, Anisha and Priyesha.
Gordhan served two terms as a Finance Minister between 2009 and 2017 before President Jacob Zuma fired him.
Born on April 12, 1949, in the eastern port of Durban, Gordhan was a descendant of one of the traders who had immigrated to South Africa from India in the 1920s.
He indulged himself in politics in 1994, when the Republic of South Africa was going through the apartheid struggle.
Gordhan was a prominent figure in the anti-apartheid struggle, which led him to be appointed as the commissioner of the South African Revenue Service in 1999.
He was a high-ranking member of the African National Congress Party (ANC) as South Africa transitioned to democracy, after which he served as a Member of Parliament in the first post-Apartheid Parliament.
The ex-politician was renown for open criticism against Jacob Zuma for his incompetence and continued scandals during his term as president.
President Zuma fired Gordhan in 2017 as part of a cabinet reshuffle before appointing his loyalists to key posts.
Gordhan announced his retirement from politics ahead of the May 2024 presidential elections.
