By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The African National Congress (ANC) has confirmed the passing of anti-apartheid activist and party’s stalwart Aziz Pahad.
ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula expressed the party’s sympathies to Pahad’s family.
Pahad died on Wednesday at his Saxonwold home surrounded by his family. He was 82 years old.
He was born in Schweizer-Reneke in the North West on 25 December 1940.
Banned by the apartheid government in 1964, he went into exile to the United Kingdom after the Rivonia Trial.
There he would play a major role in developing the anti-apartheid movement in Europe.
Pahad returned to the country from exile in 1990. He became the deputy head of the ANC department of international affairs in 1991.
He was deputy minister of foreign affairs from 1994 until 2008. He also served as a Member of Parliament from 1994 until 2008. He was also a member of the national executive committee of the African National Congress (ANC) from 1985 to 2007.
His death comes just two months after the death of his brother and former minister in the Presidency Essop Pahad.
Pahad played a key role in the secret discussions with the South African government that paved the way for the transition to a democratic state.
After South Africa’s general elections in 1994, Essop served as the Parliamentary Counsellor to then deputy president Thabo Mbeki. In the 1999 general election, Essop was appointed as the minister in the Presidency.
Pahad resigned from government after former president Mbeki was recalled in September 2008 following the decision of the ANC National Executive Committee.
The family described him as a patriot and freedom fighter who dedicated his life to the ruling party and serving South Africans.
The family will announce the funeral arrangements in due course.
Pahad is survived by his wife Angelina.