DURBAN - TRIBUTES continued pouring in on Sunday for economist and scholar Mahavishnu Padayachee, 69, who died on Friday night.
While Professor Padayachee had been diagnosed with cancer many years ago, the cause of his death was unknown last night.
In March, Padayachee received a PhD in economics from Rhodes University. The university said Padayachee had “made an exceptionally distinguished contribution to the post-apartheid transformation of the South African economic policy in ways that serve the economic and social needs of all South Africans and marginalised black South Africans, in particular”.
Durban photographer Rafs Mayet said his father Ike Mayet and Padayachee were avid readers. This inspired them to open a bookshop in Chapel Street, Overport, more than 30 years ago. “Ike my dad, and Vishnu shared so much together, especially the appreciation of the written word,” he said.
Ike’s bookshop, which is still in existence, is in Florida Road.
Research associate at Wits University Richard Pithouse said Padayachee taught Marx after-hours on the factory floor in isiZulu.
He described Padayachee as meticulous. “He was the only person I have encountered in my life who kept his inbox empty. There were no spelling mistakes. He would not tolerate any fudging of the lines that mark out professional standards of behaviour.
“Vishnu truly loved books and ideas. He always worked to put his intellect in the service of the common good,”’ Pithouse said.
Xolani Tsalong said Padayachee’s ideas and thinking transcended academia. “He connected academic ideas to real life, the lived experiences of his students; I’m glad I was one those of those students,” Tsalong said.
The University of KwaZulu-Natal said Padayachee had been a professor in the School of Economics and Business Sciences at Wits since 2014.
He was inducted as a member of the Royal Society of South Africa on October 24, 2012, and his research covered a number of fields within the broad theme of political economy.
Rhodes University said former president Nelson Mandela appointed Padayachee to the SA Reserve Bank board in 1996, where he served three terms over 12 years.
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