LIVE STREAM: Pravin Gordhan’s funeral under way in Durban

The funeral service of former Minister Pravin Gordhan has begun at the Inkosi Albert Luthuli International Convention Centre in Durban.

President Cyril Ramaphosa will deliver the eulogy at the Special Official Category 2 Funeral.

Gordhan’s body arrived earlier after family and close relatives held a prayer at his family home in Reservoir Hills.

Struggle veterans are among the mourners.  

Gordhan died in a Johannesburg hospital last week at the age of 75, after a battle with cancer.

African National Congress (ANC) Veterans’ League President, Snuki Zikalala says, “ We came in our numbers to celebrate the life of Comrade Pravin Gordhan. He contributed immensely and selflessly to our struggle for liberation. So we are proud of the work he has done starting in finance, SARS, COGTA and also state entities.”

Zikalala says, “He was incorruptible, he was the one who fought against state capture and unfortunately those who were responsible for state capture, those who made state capture to be possible to happen they are still in senior positions, but the ANC is prepared is ready to deal with these individuals.”

ANC NEC member and former Health Minister Doctor Zweli Mkhize says the party has lost one of its strongest activists.

Mkhize says, “We have lost one of our very strongest activists,  a man who believed in non-racialism, democracy, fought for it, worked for it and served our people to the end. He will always be remembered for his hard work, very strong principled approach to issues.”

Some of Gordhan’s fellow activists from the 80s have paid tribute to him.

One of them says, “One thing that sticks out in my mind is that Comrade PG is that he was an activist. Despite his role in government, whether as SARS commissioner or a minister, he always remained an activist.”

Another activist says, “His loss is a loss for us all. A giant actually has fallen. He’s leaving South African at a time when we need people of his calibre.”

“He never wavered. He was always that person who was honest. That’s my feeling. Throughout that I have known him; very honest in everything he did, even with family.”- Reporting by Tracy Valaydham and Dries Liebenberg

LIVE STREAM | Pravin Gordhan Funeral Service: