Dipak Patel.
Durban — A former member of the ANC’s uMkhonto weSizwe military wing who was recruited by the late Pravin Gordhan has described him as a principled and ethical man.
Paying tribute to Gordhan after his funeral service, on Thursday, Dipak Patel told the Daily News that although Gordhan was older than him, they grew up together in central Durban’s Casbah area of Prince Edward Street, now renamed Dr Goonam Street. Here, Patel spent 26 years of life living with his parents.
Patel said his parents always whispered to them while they were still boys that there was a congressman (referring to Gordhan) living in that building which was a few metres away from their house.
Patel said his formal encounter with Gordhan was during the 1980 class boycott when he came to address them as students, telling them to go back to classes and leave politics to them as elders.
Patel said as militant students they resisted Gordhan’s call. Patel said using his intellect Gordhan finally managed to convince them to return to class.
“I had an opportunity to work with him in the MK where I found him to be very principled, intelligent and ethical,” said Patel.
Patel said he joined the MK army under Gordhan’s guidance and was reporting to him in exile.
Furthermore, Patel found themselves in Operation Vula which was a strategic team of MK operatives led by Mac Maharaj to smuggle MK soldiers into the country using the Mozambique and Swaziland route.
In April 2018, the official name was changed from Kingdom of Swaziland to Kingdom of eSwatini.
“Gordhan was our political secretary within Operation Vula. In 1990, nine of us were arrested together with other combatants such as Maharaj, Siphiwe Nyanda, Billy Nair and Susan Shabangu.
“We were charged under the Terrorism Act but were given amnesty by the then state president FW de Klerk in 1991,” concludes Patel.
Gordhan, a former SA Revenue Services commissioner and public enterprise minister died of cancer and was privately cremated on Thursday, after his funeral service in Durban.
Patel joined the South African Presidential Climate Commission (PCC) in June 2021 as Head: Climate Finance and Innovation.
He leads the team in its work in the areas of climate finance mapping, financing a just transition and developing a strategy for financing the pathway to a net-zero emissions target for 2050.
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