Pravin Gordhan’s legacy

Pravin Gordhan is a man whose legacy will be forever undermined by the fatal economic consequences associated with his least successful role in public office.

The exits of Margaret Thatcher, Tony Blair, Gordon Brown, Boris Johnson and even Liz Truss reflect traumatic hasty exits that made it obvious that political careers that had been regarded as rather illustrious can sometimes end in rather embarrassing failure.In democracies where the triggers are activated less frequently, incumbent political leaders who have lost favour within the party are reduced to ‘echo’ figures whose political musings are at best ignored and at worst undermined.

His age should have been enough to cite as the reason for retirement. But, as we now know, age rarely emerges as the reason for shuffling off the political stage these days. As he shuffles off the political stage, the scrutiny flashed upon him is due to his roles at some of the most important institutions in the country.

His direct confrontations with his own boss relating to the fate of National Treasury became the most explicit illustration of the deep levels of contestation for control of public resources within the ANC. While he would not return to the treasury after the night of the long knives of 2017, his public stance gave insider bureaucrats within Treasury enough runway to resist some of the more ambitious overtures of the latter-day Zuma administration.The end of the Zuma years on Valentine’s Day in 2018 resulted in Gordhan inheriting the most complex albatross of his frontline political career – the Ministry of Public Enterprises.

Read: Government sued over sale of SAA in R51 deal Gordhan to be subpoenaed over SAA-Takatso transaction SAA secrets could be revealed week SAA-Takatso deal is being renegotiated Gordhan’s departure will make Mango sale easier – BRP While no one could legitimately expect any minister to singularly unravel the cube of chaos across the portfolio of state-owned enterprises , it was Gordhan’s own self-generated lethargy that confounded even his strongest supporters.

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