The contrast between the two issues that transfixed the nationthis week — the death of ANC struggle veteran Ahmed Kathrada, and growing anxiety that finance minister Pravin Gordhan was to be axed — could not have been starker. The ANC is shown in two contradictory guises: one the idealistic and selfless, the other corrupt and mercenary. Kathrada (87), was one of the revered Rivonia Trial generation of leaders, which included such giants of the liberation movement as Nelson Mandela, Walter Sisulu and Govan Mbeki. Only Denis Goldberg (83) and Andrew Mlangeni (91) are still alive. The tributes to Kathrada, a gentle man who was incarcerated for 26 years (18 of them on Robben Island) have been universally warm, extolling his humility and selflessness. He never sought high office (perhaps because he did not want it) or material gain, but dedicated his life to principles he learnt from an ANC from an altogether more innocent age. It’s hard to imagine. You couldn’t help but consider the eul...
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