29th March, 2017
Kathrada, who died on Tuesday at age 87, was one of the most senior members of Zuma’s African National Congress, which has governed South Africa since the country’s first democratic elections put a definitive end to apartheid in 1994.
Kathrada had in 2016 criticised Zuma over a corruption scandal.
He also called on the president to resign.
The government was represented by Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa after the presidency announced that Zuma would not attend the funeral “in compliance with the wishes of the family.”
The report quoted close family sources as saying that, “in the final stretch of his life, Kathrada had said he did not want Zuma at his funeral.”
In April 2016, Kathrada published an open letter to Zuma, calling on the president to resign after he was found to have spent taxpayers’ money to upgrade his rural home.
One of the leading figures in the struggle against apartheid, Kathrada was sentenced to life imprisonment in 1964 alongside Nelson Mandela and other ANC leaders.
He spent 26 years in prison, including 18 years at the notorious Robben Island penitentiary off Cape Town.
“The passing of Kathrada is a monumental loss not only to his family but to all South Africans as he was one of the fearless and dedicated architects of the free and democratic South Africa,” the government said.