Essop Goolam Pahad (born 21 June 1939) is a retired

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring count ...

n politician. He served as the Minister in the Presidency from 1999 to 2008.

Early life

Pahad was born in Schweizer-Reneke in the former

Transvaal Province The Province of the Transvaal ( af, Provinsie van Transvaal), commonly referred to as the Transvaal (; ), was a province of South Africa from 1910 until 1994, when a new constitution subdivided it following the end of apartheid. The name "Trans ...

. He is an alumnus of both the

University of the Witwatersrand The University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg (), is a multi-campus South African public research university situated in the northern areas of central Johannesburg. It is more commonly known as Wits University or Wits ( or ). The university ...

(Wits) and the

University of Sussex , mottoeng = Be Still and Know , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £14.4 million (2020) , budget = £319.6 million (2019–20) , chancellor = Sanjeev Bhaskar , vice_chancellor = Sasha Roseneil , ...

. He started his academic career with a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four yea ...

degree in

political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and power, and the analysis of political activities, political thought, political behavior, and associated constitutions and ...

at Wits. At the

, he completed a

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. ...

in African politics as well as his

PhD PHD or PhD may refer to: * Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), an academic qualification Entertainment * '' PhD: Phantasy Degree'', a Korean comic series * ''Piled Higher and Deeper'', a web comic * Ph.D. (band), a 1980s British group ** Ph.D. (Ph.D. albu ...

in history. The title of his thesis was "The Development of Indian Political Movements in South Africa 1924 – 1946." He is the brother of Aziz Pahad.

Political career

His political career began in 1958 when he became a member of the

Transvaal Indian Youth Congress Transvaal is a historical geographic term associated with land north of (''i.e.'', beyond) the Vaal River in South Africa. A number of states and administrative divisions have carried the name Transvaal. * South African Republic (1856–1902; a ...

. In 1962 Pahad was arrested for organising an illegal strike, following the banning of the

African National Congress The African National Congress (ANC) is a social-democratic political party in South Africa. A liberation movement known for its opposition to apartheid, it has governed the country since 1994, when the first post-apartheid election install ...

. In December 1964, Pahad was banned for five years and went into exile. While in exile, Pahad became more actively involved with the ANC and the

SACP The South African Communist Party (SACP) is a communist party in South Africa. It was founded in 1921 as the Communist Party of South Africa (CPSA), tactically dissolved itself in 1950 in the face of being declared illegal by the governing Na ...

. He represented the SACP on the editorial council for the World Marxist Review.

Career in government

After the

1994 South African general election General elections were held in South Africa between 26 and 29 April 1994. The elections were the first in which citizens of all races were allowed to take part, and were therefore also the first held with universal suffrage. The election was ...

, Pahad served as the Parliamentary Counsellor to then-Deputy President

Thabo Mbeki Thabo Mvuyelwa Mbeki KStJ (; born 18 June 1942) is a South African politician who was the second president of South Africa from 14 June 1999 to 24 September 2008, when he resigned at the request of his party, the African National Congress (AN ...

. He was appointed as the Minister in the Presidency after the 1999 general election. In 2000 it was reported that at a closed session of the ANC's governance committee Pahad tried to squash an inquiry into corruption in the Arms Deal, an accusation that Pahad denies despite numerous reports to the contrary. Pahad was also involved in raising R1.55 million from corporate sponsors to hire

Ronald Suresh Roberts Ronald Suresh Roberts (born 17 February 1968) is a British West Indian biographer, lawyer and writer. He is best known for his biographies of some of the leading figures in the "New South Africa" such as Nobel Prize winner Nadine Gordimer and ...

to write a biography of then President Mbeki. After Mbeki's resignation as President of South Africa in September 2008, Pahad submitted his resignation as Minister.

Post-2008

Pahad was a member of the Organising Committee of the 2010 FIFA World Cup held in South Africa, and claimed in 2008 that South African whites wanted the event to be a failure. An independent survey by

Human Sciences Research Council The Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) of South Africa is Africa's largest dedicated social science and humanities research agency and policy think tank. It primarily conducts large-scale, policy-relevant, social-scientific projects for publi ...

(HSRC) reported in January 2010 that South African whites in fact generally support the event. Pahad was the chairman of the board of the South Africa/Mali Timbuktu Manuscripts Trust as well as chairman of the board of trustees of the South African Democracy Education Trust, and a former member of the national executive committee of the African National Congress. After leaving government in 2008 Pahad launched a South African monthly (later quarterly) journal name
''The Thinker''
which was later taken over by the University of Johannesburg in 2019.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pahad, Essop 1939 births Living people People from Schweizer-Reneke South African politicians of Indian descent South African Communist Party politicians African National Congress politicians Government ministers of South Africa Members of the National Assembly of South Africa Anti-apartheid activists South African Muslims Recipients of Pravasi Bharatiya Samman