After some 53 years in activism, politics and public life, one-time pharmacist, Codesa delegate, tax boss and minister, Pravin Gordhan is calling it quits after the 29 May elections. It's not a surprise -- word in late 2022 was that President Cyril Ramaphosa had persuaded him to stay until the elections.

Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan is known for the phrase "connecting the dots" regarding State Capture when he linked key leadership appointments in state-owned enterprises (SOEs) to state contracts, with billions of rands diverted from the public good into private pockets. At the time, Gordhan sat on the ANC back benches and served in the parliamentary State Capture probe after being fired as finance minister in the March 2017 midnight Cabinet reshuffle.

Gordhan's departure comes at a time of flailing SOEs, including SAA, Eskom and Transnet, with criticism levelled at him for not building institutional capacity and his leadership style slated as micro-management.

Less in the public eye was Gordhan's influence in Jacob Zuma's 2018 exit from the presidency. It's understood to be linked in no small way to changing attitudes in the South African Communist Party to which Gordhan belonged for most of his political life, which began in 1971 at the Natal Indian Congress.

The Department of Public Enterprises said on Friday that Gordhan's announcement of his retirement come the 29 May poll was "emblematic of the minister's desire to be candid so that all critical constituencies that related to his current portfolio are sufficiently informed about his...