Aziz Pahad, one of the country's most prominent freedom fighters during apartheid, has died in Johannesburg aged 82.
Pahad died within just two months of his older brother and fellow activist, Dr Essop Pahad, who passed away in July, aged 84.
The two were served with banning orders for organising an illegal protest in 1962. They left South Africa in 1964 and continued the fight from abroad.
While living in the UK, Aziz Pahad, a member of the central committee of the SACP, also carried on working for the ANC. It was a lifelong partnership which would eventually take him to the position of deputy minister of foreign affairs 30 years later.
He was a member of the ANC team that secretly met with SA government officials and leading businessmen in the late 1980s to pave the way to an end to apartheid. He returned to South Africa in 1990 to join the official negotiations.
When Nelson Mandela was elected president, he appointed Pahad to his ministerial post. He kept the same position for 14 years, until 2008 when he stepped down following the resignation of Thabo Mbeki.
Across this period he played a major role in South African international relations, leading the diplomatic fight against the US's invasion of Iraq in 2003.
After retiring from politics, he was recalled in 2014 by then-president Jacob Zuma to serve as his envoy to deal with the Israel/Palestine issue.
Pahad is survived by his estranged wife, Sandra Black-Pahad, and their children. He died at home surrounded by his family on Wednesday.
Compiled by staff writer
