STAFF REPORTER
Former minister in the Presidency and SACP struggle veteran Essop Pahad, has died at age 84.
His family said Pahad who was an active member of both the ANC and the SACP during the liberation struggle passed away peacefully in his sleep.
Pahad was a minister in the presidency during former president Thabo Mbeki’s administration from 1999 until 2008. Essop and his brother Aziz Pahad, were said to be close allies of Mbeki.
After retirement, Pahad established a thought leadership Magazine called The Thinker.
Before going to exile In 1958 he became an active member of the Transvaal Indian youth congress and was arrested in 1962 for organising a strike after the banning of the ANC.
President Ramaphosa offered his deep condolences to the family, and friends of the late veteran.
“We mourn the passing of a veteran of our struggle, 65 years after he took his first revolutionary step of becoming a member of the Transvaal Indian Congress.
“Security crackdowns, banning and exile shaped Essop Pahad’s contribution over decades to our struggle and, as Parliamentary Counsellor to President Thabo Mbeki and Minister in the Presidency, to the early design and impact of our democratic state.
“Essop Pahad was a thinker and strategist who brought his understanding of the human condition, injustice and inequality at the national and international level to bear on our transition to democracy and in introducing a democratic, non-aligned and activist South Africa to the global community.
“He served our nation with pride, principle, pragmatism, and a charm that lived comfortably alongside a tongue that could lash severely at the right provocation.
“Amid the excessive demands of his public life, Essop Pahad was deeply devoted to his wife, Meg, and was a proud and doting father and grandfather, who is now sorely missed. May his soul rest in peace,” Ramaphosa said.
INSIDE POLITICS
