WATCH | ‘I never stole a cent’: Gordhan's final point on his years in government

Pravin Gordhan, two months before retiring from government, made a point of defending his governance legacy, telling South Africans he never stole a cent from state funds in his many years as a public servant.

Gordan died on Friiday after losing a battle to cancer. He was 75.

He died less than four months after his retirement. He was diagnosed with cancer after he retired. 

In one of his last media briefings, the former public enterprises minister in March closed the book on the sale of 51% of SAA to Takatso Consortium and addressed “irregularities” suspicions in the collapsed deal.

The termination of the sale of majority SAA shares to Takatso Consortium as a strategic partner was pinned on delays and competition policy challenges after three years in the making. The share sale started in June 2021 and Takatso was expected to invest more than R3bn over three years. The sale was contested by some politicians against privatisation of the state entity despite it having been unprofitable for years.

Before the sale was initiated economists had lamented SAA was nothing but a burden to a buyer and to the state because it was sinking in debt and was not making a profit.

With some opposition parties accusing Gordan of having “something to hide” in the deal, he defended himself in a press conference. He said he did not commit corruption and neither he nor his family had benefited financially from the deal. 

“Suddenly I have become a corrupt individual in the eyes of some people without them having an iota of proof. If you find me having stolen one cent of public money you have something on your side which I do not have. Nobody can find that,” Gordhan said adamantly. 

The decision to cancel the sale came weeks after Gordhan appeared before parliament's public enterprises committee, probing allegations of irregularities regarding the sale made by former department director-general Kgathatso Tlhakudi, to present documents relating to the deal. 

When Gordhan requested the meeting be held in camera without the media and MPs signed a non-disclosure agreement before documents were presented, this raised suspicions the minister “had something to hide”. 

Gordhan was not happy with that sentiment hanging over his name after he had built a reputation of being a corruption fighter during former president Jacob Zuma's tenure.

With the deal terminated a few months before the elections, he was adamant it was not done under pressure. 

“This was not done under pressure. This was a process professionally handled by the department and we came to the point where we say, maybe this is not the best route for SAA to be taken through,” he said. 

SAA over the years needed constant bailouts from the government due to bad management and looting allegations detailed in the state capture inquiry by chief justice Raymond Zondo.

Due to this former SAA chair Dudu Myeni was declared a delinquent director for life by the high court in Pretoria in 2020.

“The evidence reveals that Myeni was appointed chairperson of the board of SAA in circumstances where she was an underperforming board member. She proceeded, through a mixture of negligence, incompetence and deliberate corrupt intent, to dismantle governance procedures at SAA, create a climate of fear and intimidation and make a series of operational choices at SAA that saw it decline into a shambolic state,” the Zondo commission found.