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| Aziz Pahad | |
|---|---|
| Name | Aziz Pahad |
| Birth date | 1940 |
| Birth place | Butcher, South Africa |
| Death date | 2023 |
| Death place | Johannesburg |
| Nationality | South Africa |
| Occupation | Diplomat; Politician |
| Office | Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs |
| Term start | 1994 |
| Term end | 2008 |
| Party | African National Congress |
Aziz Pahad was a South African politician and diplomat who served as Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1994 to 2008 and played a significant role in the African National Congress's international relations during and after the anti-apartheid struggle. A long-time anti-apartheid activist, he combined grassroots activism with diplomatic engagement, working with international figures and institutions to campaign against apartheid and later to shape post-apartheid South African foreign policy.
Pahad was born in 1940 in Butcher, South Africa into a family with connections to the South African Indian community and received his early schooling in Gauteng and Durban. He pursued tertiary studies in the era of Group Areas Act segregation and was influenced by contemporary leaders such as Nelson Mandela, Oliver Tambo, Ahmed Kathrada, Govan Mbeki, and Walter Sisulu. His intellectual formation included exposure to anti-colonial writings by figures like Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, Kwame Nkrumah, Frantz Fanon, and Amílcar Cabral, and to international developments including the United Nations debates on apartheid, the Organization of African Unity, and the Non-Aligned Movement. His education intersected with legal, trade union, and student movements connected to activists including Bharat Patel, Denis Goldberg, Moses Kotane, Yusuf Dadoo, and Robert Sobukwe.
As an activist Pahad was involved with networks that connected the African National Congress, the South African Communist Party, the United Democratic Front, and trade unions such as the Congress of South African Trade Unions. He collaborated internationally with anti-apartheid lobbying groups in London, Washington, D.C., Paris, Harare, and Addis Ababa, coordinating campaigns with personalities like Desmond Tutu, Winnie Mandela, Joe Slovo, Chris Hani, Thabo Mbeki, and Albie Sachs. Pahad engaged with parliamentary and civic audiences including members of the British Parliament, United States Congress, European Parliament, and NGOs like Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch to increase sanctions pressure involving the United Nations Security Council, the Commonwealth of Nations, and financial institutions such as the World Bank and International Monetary Fund. He was active during pivotal events including the Sharpeville massacre aftermath, the states of emergency in the 1980s, negotiations leading to the Convention for a Democratic South Africa, and contacts with liberation movements across Southern Africa including ZANU–PF, SWAPO, FRELIMO, and MPLA.
Following unbanning of the African National Congress and the release of Nelson Mandela in 1990, Pahad transitioned into formal diplomatic and political roles, aligning with leaders such as Thabo Mbeki, Jacob Zuma, Kgalema Motlanthe, Pieter Willem Botha's successors, and technocrats from institutions like the National Treasury and the Department of Foreign Affairs. He participated in multilateral fora including the United Nations General Assembly, the United Nations Security Council engagements on Angola, Libya, and Sierra Leone, and regional bodies such as the Southern African Development Community and the African Union. He worked on bilateral relations with states including United States, United Kingdom, China, India, Brazil, Russia, Germany, France, Japan, Egypt, Nigeria, Kenya, Ethiopia, Algeria, Cuba, Israel, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey.
As Deputy Minister Pahad served under Foreign Ministers including Alfred Nzo, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, and Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma's successors, helping manage South Africa's post-apartheid re-entry into international institutions such as the Commonwealth of Nations and the World Trade Organization. He was instrumental in policy approaches toward peace processes in Zimbabwe, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sudan, and Madagascar, and in diplomatic mediation involving leaders like Robert Mugabe, Laurent Kabila, Omar al-Bashir, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Meles Zenawi, and Hifikepunye Pohamba. He engaged with frameworks like the Kimberley Process, arms control dialogues with United Nations, and multilateral development partnerships with the European Union and BRICS members, collaborating with diplomats from Seychelles, Mauritius, Botswana, Mozambique, Angola, and Namibia.
Pahad expressed positions on contentious international issues that drew commentary from figures and outlets connected to Western Cape politics, Labour Party (UK), Republican Party (United States), and international media including BBC, The Guardian, The New York Times, and Al Jazeera. His stances on Israeli–Palestinian conflict interventions, relations with Cuba, responses to crises in Libya and Syria, and approaches to R2P and sanctions were debated by scholars and practitioners in institutions such as Chatham House, Brookings Institution, Council on Foreign Relations, International Crisis Group, Human Rights Watch, and universities like University of Cape Town, University of the Witwatersrand, Harvard University, and Oxford University. Domestic controversy involved interactions with leaders including Donald Trump-era diplomats, critics in the Democratic Alliance, and responses from civil society organizations like Black Sash and The Ahmed Kathrada Foundation.
After leaving office in 2008, Pahad remained active in public life through advisory roles, commentary, and participation in forums linked to Nelson Mandela Foundation, Institute for Democracy in South Africa (IDASA), South African Institute of International Affairs, and international conferences hosted by United Nations agencies. His legacy is reflected in debates on South Africa's non-aligned posture, engagement with BRICS, and training of diplomats who later served in missions to United Nations, European Union, African Union, and bilateral posts in capitals such as Washington, D.C., Beijing, London, New Delhi, and Brasília. He is remembered alongside contemporaries like Roelf Meyer, Pallo Jordan, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, Albie Sachs, and Mac Maharaj for shaping South Africa's transition and foreign policy orientation in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.
Category:South African politicians Category:South African diplomats Category:African National Congress politicians