Pravin Gordhan, South Africa's finance minister, left, greets former President Nelson Mandela's wife, Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, during the funeral service for Ahmed Kathrada, at West Park Cemetery in Johannesburg, South Africa, Wednesday, March 29, 2017. Anti-apartheid activist Ahmed Kathrada, who spent 26 years in jail - many of them alongside Nelson Mandela - for working to end South Africa's previous white minority rule, died in Johannesburg on Tuesday morning. He was 87 years old. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)
The Associated Press
JOHANNESBURG (AP) - The funeral of one of South Africa's leading anti-apartheid activists on Wednesday exposed the angry divide over the fate of a country he fought decades to see exist. President Jacob Zuma said he wouldn't attend after Ahmed Kathrada's family asked him to stay away, while funeral-goers rose in a standing ovation for Kathrada's recent call for the scandal-ridden Zuma to step aside.
Kathrada, who spent years in prison with Nelson Mandela for opposing the former white minority government, died Tuesday at age 87. He stepped into the spotlight last year to urge Zuma to quit after numerous corruption allegations against him shook the faith of many in the ruling African National Congress, the country's former liberation movement.
The ANC flag covered Kathrada's coffin Wednesday, and a statement from Zuma's office said South Africa had lost "one of its valuable and most respected freedom fighters."
But the growing frustration over the country's leadership burst out among the aging activists, including Mandela's ex-wife Winnie Madikizela Mandela, 80.
They rose in a standing ovation when Kgalema Motlanthe, a former deputy president under Zuma, quoted from Kathrada's letter urging Zuma to leave to avoid deepening the "crisis of confidence in the government."
There was another standing ovation for Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan, whose strong reputation as a bulwark against corruption has raised investor fears that Zuma will soon fire him. The rand currency has dropped, further worrying residents of a leading African economy that has stalled amid high unemployment.
Many South Africans have shown their impatience with the president, who was found last year by the country's highest court to have violated his oath of office by refusing to pay back some of the millions of dollars in public money spent on upgrading his rural home.
The ANC under Zuma last year suffered its worst-ever election showing after comfortably leading for a generation, losing control of key municipalities including those of the commercial hub, Johannesburg, and the capital, Pretoria.
Three months later, Zuma later survived an attempt by senior party members to oust him as president.
Now the shaken ruling party looks ahead to a conference in December that will determine who will succeed Zuma as the ANC's leader - and likely as president, as the party has never lost the general election since taking power in 1994.
The country's next presidential elections are in 2019.
A mourner holds a portrait of Ahmed Kathrada, at West Park Cemetery in Johannesburg, South Africa, Wednesday, March 29, 2017. Anti-apartheid activist Ahmed Kathrada, who spent 26 years in jail - many of them alongside Nelson Mandela - for working to end South Africa's previous white minority rule, died in Johannesburg on Tuesday morning. He was 87 years old. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)
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Former wife of the late former President Nelson Mandela, Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, listens to speeches during the memorial service for Ahmed Kathrada, at the Nelson Mandela Foundation in Johannesburg, South Africa, Tuesday, March 28, 2017. Anti-apartheid activist Ahmed Kathrada, who spent 26 years in jail - many of them alongside Nelson Mandela - for working to end South Africa's previous white minority rule, died in Johannesburg on Tuesday morning. He was 87 years old. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)
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Men carrying a coffin of Ahmed Kathrada, during the funeral service at West Park Cemetery in Johannesburg, South Africa, Wednesday, March 29, 2017. Anti-apartheid activist Ahmed Kathrada, who spent 26 years in jail - many of them alongside Nelson Mandela - for working to end South Africa's previous white minority rule, died in Johannesburg on Tuesday morning. He was 87 years old. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)
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Andrew Mlangeni, a South African political activist and Anti-Apartheid campaigner who, along with Nelson Mandela and others, was held as part of the Rivonia Trial, attends the funeral service for Ahmed Kathrada, at West Park Cemetery in Johannesburg, South Africa, Wednesday, March 29, 2017. Anti-apartheid activist Ahmed Kathrada, who spent 26-years in jail, many of them alongside Nelson Mandela, for working to end South Africa's previous white minority rule, died in Johannesburg on Tuesday morning. He was 87 years old. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)
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Andrew Mlangeni, a South African political activist and Anti-Apartheid campaigner who, along with Nelson Mandela and others, was held as part of the Rivonia Trial, holds a programme for the funeral service for Ahmed Kathrada, at West Park Cemetery in Johannesburg, South Africa, Wednesday, March 29, 2017. Anti-apartheid activist Ahmed Kathrada, who spent 26 years in jail, many of them alongside Nelson Mandela, for working to end South Africa's previous white minority rule, died in Johannesburg on Tuesday morning. He was 87 years old. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)
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Men carrying a coffin of Ahmed Kathrada, during the funeral service at West Park Cemetery in Johannesburg, South Africa, Wednesday, March 29, 2017. Anti-apartheid activist Ahmed Kathrada, who spent 26 years in jail - many of them alongside Nelson Mandela - for working to end South Africa's previous white minority rule, died in Johannesburg on Tuesday morning. He was 87 years old. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)
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Friends and family members lower the body of Ahmed Kathrada, into the grave during the funeral service at West Park Cemetery in Johannesburg, South Africa, Wednesday, March 29, 2017. Anti-apartheid activist Ahmed Kathrada, who spent 26 years in jail - many of them alongside Nelson Mandela - for working to end South Africa's previous white minority rule, died in Johannesburg on Tuesday morning. He was 87 years old. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)
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A member of the African National Congress (ANC), stands next to a coffin during the funeral service for Ahmed Kathrada, at West Park Cemetery in Johannesburg, South Africa, Wednesday, March 29, 2017. Anti-apartheid activist Ahmed Kathrada, who spent 26 years in jail - many of them alongside Nelson Mandela - for working to end South Africa's previous white minority rule, died in Johannesburg on Tuesday morning. He was 87 years old. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)
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Men carrying a coffin of Ahmed Kathrada, during the funeral service at West Park Cemetery in Johannesburg, South Africa, Wednesday, March 29, 2017. Anti-apartheid activist Ahmed Kathrada, who spent 26 years in jail - many of them alongside Nelson Mandela - for working to end South Africa's previous white minority rule, died in Johannesburg on Tuesday morning. He was 87 years old. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)
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Former wife of the late former President Nelson Mandela, Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, listens to speeches during the memorial service for Ahmed Kathrada, at the Nelson Mandela Foundation in Johannesburg, South Africa, Tuesday, March 28, 2017. Anti-apartheid activist Ahmed Kathrada, who spent 26 years in jail - many of them alongside Nelson Mandela - for working to end South Africa's previous white minority rule, died in Johannesburg on Tuesday morning. He was 87 years old. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)
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Former wife of the late former President Nelson Mandela, Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, left, with daughter Zenani Dlamini Mandela, listens to speeches during the memorial service for Ahmed Kathrada, at the Nelson Mandela Foundation in Johannesburg, South Africa, Tuesday, March 28, 2017. Anti-apartheid activist Ahmed Kathrada, who spent 26 years in jail - many of them alongside Nelson Mandela - for working to end South Africa's previous white minority rule, died in Johannesburg on Tuesday morning. He was 87 years old. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)
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Zenani Dlamini Mandela, the daughter of Nelson Mandela, listens to speeches during the memorial service for Ahmed Kathrada, at the Nelson Mandela Foundation in Johannesburg, South Africa, Tuesday, March 28, 2017. Anti-apartheid activist Ahmed Kathrada, who spent 26 years in jail - many of them alongside Nelson Mandela - for working to end South Africa's previous white minority rule, died in Johannesburg on Tuesday morning. He was 87 years old. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)
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