By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
In his eulogy to the late anti-apartheid activist Essop Pahad, Deputy president Paul Mashatile has spoken of a leader, a comrade, and a robust intellectual.
Pahad died on Thursday morning aged 84 and was laid to rest according to Muslim rites on Thursday afternoon at the Westpark Cemetery.
Mashatile delivered the eulogy at Pahad’s funeral on behalf of President Cyril Ramaphosa on Thursday, due to the president being out of the country.
Former president Thabo Mbeki and Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi were among those who attended the funeral service.
“Today we woke up to the sad news of the passing of a tried-and-tested cadre and leader of the people of South Africa, Comrade Essop Goolam Pahad,” Mashatile said.
“Essop Pahad has left a void. In his lifetime of struggle, he traversed the world to ensure that our struggle delivered victory to the ordinary masses of our people. We who remain are obliged to spare no effort to ensure that we stay the course.”.
Lesufi described Pahad as someone who made an immense contribution to the struggle against apartheid.
“What we used to cherish is no more. What we used to marvel at has left us. He was a thinker, planner, coordinator, strategist, and communicator par excellence, in him we had a leader, a patriot, an internationalist, and a revolutionary that cared about our country. His contribution was worth it to destroy Heapartheid and its systems.”
ANC National Executive Committee member Dr Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma said she never imagined speaking at his funeral.
In Comrade Essop, you got what you see. He spoke his mind. You knew exactly where you stood with him. He was also kind-hearted. He cared,” she said.
Dlamini Zuma paid tribute to Pahad for creating an environment where everyone could speak up.
“Young people of our country have an exemplary revolutionary whose life story they should draw an example from,” she said.
Dlamini Zuma called on the left to rise, adding that there had to be a solid bond between the ANC and the SACP now more than ever.
SACP general secretary Solly Mapaila described Pahad as a “towering intellectual”, saying that when it came to an intellectual discussion of the revolution, one had to “raise the bar.”
He also said Pahad was not only a senior leader of the communist party but also a selfless comrade who lived humbly and respected all people.
Pahad’s lifelong friend and comrade, Prema Naidoo, in his tribute, said he and the Pahad family go back a long way, right back to the days of the Transvaal Youth Indian Congress, saying Pahad and his siblings were active members of the Congress.
In each and every major campaign in the country (The Defiance Campaign, The 1956 Women’s March to Pretoria), Essop and his family played a major role,” he said.
His son Gavin Pahad said during the last days of his father’s life he could not do the things that brought him the most joy.
“When his family and friends came to visit, his face would always light up. When his grandchildren would come and visit him, they would run and hug him and tell him that they loved him. He was so happy to see us as his grandchildren.”
Pahad was born on 21 June 1939 in Schweizer-Reneke in the North West. He grew up in a family of political activists.
After South Africa’s general elections in 1994, Pahad served as the Parliamentary Counsellor to the then Deputy President Mbeki. In the 1999 general election, Pahad was appointed as the minister in the presidency.
Pahad had been in retirement after serving as minister from 1999 to 2008, he was an active ANC and the South African Communist Party member during the apartheid era.
He was buried next to former ANC deputy secretary-general Jessie Duarte and former Foreign Affairs Minister Ebrahim Ebrahim.
Watch Live in the video below:
Video Courtesy of SABC.