Pravin Jamnadas Gordhan

Pravin Jamnadas Gordhan was born in Durban, Natal, into an Indian-South African family. Qualifying as a pharmacist at the University of Durban-Westville, he joined the Natal Indian Congress (NIC), the African National Congress (ANC) underground, and Umkhonto we Sizwe, playing a pivotal leadership role in Operation Vula in the late 1980s, enduring police detention and torture.

Following the 1994 democratic transition, Gordhan chaired the parliamentary committee on the new constitution before serving as Commissioner of the South African Revenue Service (SARS) from 1999 to 2009, transforming it into one of the developing world's most efficient, transparent tax agencies. Appointed Minister of Finance by President Jacob Zuma in 2009, Gordhan was reappointed in 2015 after market turmoil. He became the foremost cabinet bulwark against systemic corruption ("state capture") orchestrated by the Gupta family, defying bogus political prosecutions to protect the integrity of South Africa's fiscal institutions.