Gordhan expected in Pretoria for Kathrada memorial

5th April 2017 By: News24Wire

Gordhan expected in Pretoria for Kathrada memorial

Former Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan
Photo by: Reuters

Former finance minister Pravin Gordhan is expected to speak at a memorial service for Ahmed Kathrada in Pretoria on Wednesday.

Gordhan will speak at the Greek Hall in Brooklyn, at the first of four memorial services for Kathrada. The anti-apartheid struggle veteran died last Tuesday, aged 87.

A memorial is expected to take place at St George's Cathedral in Cape Town at 14:00 on Thursday.

The speakers include Gordhan, Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town Thabo Makgoba and Robben Island veteran Eddie Daniels.

Another memorial will be held at the Ahmed Kathrada Hospital, Lenmed, in Lenasia, on Friday at 11:00. Kathrada's friend of 63 years, Laloo Chiba, is expected to address that gathering.

A service will be held at the Sastri College in Durban on Sunday at 14:30. Gordhan and Albertina Luthuli are expected to speak.

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Ahmed Kathrada Foundation CEO Neeshan Balton said they were not responsible for organising the events.

"We have merely endorsed them. Different people have opted to choose their own speakers and I think they saw the impact from the memorial service," said Balton.

Several speakers at Kathrada's funeral last Wednesday, and at his memorial service on Saturday, cited an open letter he wrote to President Jacob Zuma in April 2016, calling on him to step down.

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Signing off his letter, he wrote, "To paraphrase the famous MK slogan of the time: 'There comes a time in the life of every nation when it must choose to submit or fight.' Today, I appeal to our president to submit to the will of the people and resign."

Senior African National Congress leaders used the memorial service to voice their dissatisfaction with how Zuma was leading the country.

On Saturday, various leaders spoke up about Zuma's Cabinet reshuffle, in which he sacked Gordhan and his deputy Mcebisi Jonas.

Gordhan called for mass mobilisation and told South Africans to be vigilant and "connect the dots" to determine how money flowed from Treasury to various projects.