From his deathbed, Pravin Gordhan planned his exit, taking the real MK and the history of the ANC back to troubled KwaZulu-Natal, home to one of the Struggle stalwart's mortal enemies, Jacob Zuma.

It was in KwaZulu-Natal that Pravin Gordhan, a lifelong Charterist -- the movement that grew out of the non-racial Congress movements and the adoption of the Freedom Charter in 1955 -- alongside other young student activists of the 1970s and 1980s, planned for and established the concept of mass mobilisation in South Africa.

The ANC's Politico-Military Strategy Commission at its 1979 National Executive Committee meeting at Morogoro in Tanzania adopted the famous "Green Book", which set out that "unity of action" should be the goal. Gordhan's input was invaluable. (A recommended reading list is provided below).

And if you thought that Gordhan's state funeral, held at the Durban International Conference Centre on Thursday, felt like a political rally, a moment for truth-telling and a political compass reset, you would be right.

Gordhan died with his combat boots on.

Dangerous times

That Jacob Zuma's Fong Kong MK is attempting to cover the province in green while gathering toxic political barnacles like former EFF founder Floyd Shivambu, is where we should look now, warned Gordhan.

In his last interview before retiring, Gordhan spoke of "dangerous times" ahead, and that while...