JOINING THE DOTS, an unauthorised biography of Pravin Gordhan

249pp., b/w & colour illus., paperback, Johannesburg, 2021

Pravin Gordhan is currently the Minister of Public Enterprises of South Africa in President Cyril Ramaphosa's cabinet, a position he has held since February 2018.

Prior to the first democratic elections in 1994 he was involved in the underground structures of the African National Congress (ANC) and was detained three times by the apartheid government. He participated in the multi-party talks at the Convention for a Democratic South Africa (CODESA), was Co-chairperson of the Transitional Executive Council, participated in drafting the White Paper on Local Government and served as Chairperson of the Parliamentary Constitutional Committee. He became a Member of Parliament in 1994 and was a Commissioner of the South African Revenue Service from 1999 -2009. 

He was Minister of Finance under President Jacob Zuma from 2009 until he was fired in May 2014 after he was accused of being involved in a plot to undermine the government with the help of international companies. Gordhan was re-appointed as Minister of Finance in December 2015. He served as the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs of the Republic of South Africa (2014 - 2015). It is widely believed that Gordhan has been the target of a smear campaign by those associated with state capture because of his efforts to fight corruption.

Journalist Jonathan Ancer is the author of Spy, uncovering Craig Williamson and Betrayal, the secret lives of apartheid spies.

Journalist Chris Whitfield is a former editor of the Cape Times, the Cape Argus, the Weekend Argus, and the former editor-in-chief of Independent Newspapers Cape. He is co-author with Alide Dasnois of Paper Tiger, Iqbal Surve and the downfall of Independent Newspapers.