Former Member of Parliament and lecturer Professor Gavin Woods has died. He passed away earlier this week from cancer.
Woods was born in 1948 in Durban and grew up in the KwaZulu-Natal town of Estcourt, the second of eight children.
Woods contracted polio soon after his birth; he only learnt to walk, with the help of calipers, when he was six years old. He underwent more than 50 surgical procedures and two periods of hospitalisation lasting for more than 12 months. He missed a considerable amount of schooling as a result.
His early working career included various accounting and financial management positions. He later entered politics and became active in the Inkatha Freedom party (IFP).
Woods joined the party after being recruited by the late Mangosuthu Buthelezi in 1984.
He later became the executive director at a policy research institution, working primarily on research for the IFP.
He served as an MP from 1994, serving on public accounts and finance committees.
Woods came under political pressure while probing the controversial Arms Deal. He received a letter from Jacob Zuma, then Deputy President to Thabo Mbeki. He was told ‘to discourage the investigation’. Woods believed Mbeki wrote the letter.
Woods resigned as chairman of Scopa in 2002, due to ‘interference’ in the committee’s work by Cabinet ministers Tony Yengeni, Frene Ginwala, and Zuma.
He left the IFP in 2005, crossing the floor to join an IFP breakaway, the National Democratic Convention. He served as an MP for that party until 2009.
From 2005 to 2013, Woods was a professor of public finance and ethics at Stellenbosch University.
Woods served on the Public Service Commission from 2013 to 2017, concentrating on service delivery and anti-corruption measures.
Tourism Minister Patricia de Lille worked closely with Woods during his investigation of the Arms Deal.
‘He was such an ethical person. The two of us worked very closely on the Arms Deal (investigation) when he was the chairperson of Scopa… he was an intelligent person’, said De Lille.
A spokesman for the IFP, Mkhuleko Hlengwa, said: ‘We extend our condolences to his family on this painful loss. Gavin will be remembered for the valuable contribution he made to exposing corruption in the government by uncovering vital evidence pertaining to the Arms Deal during his tenure as the chairperson of the Standing Committee on Public Accounts. We are grateful for his life.’
Woods is survived by his wife and four children.
Image by Phil Burrows from Pixabay