Sathyandranath Ragunanan "Mac" Maharaj (born 22 April 1936 in

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area in Australia, named after Newcastle ...

Natal NATAL or Natal may refer to: Places * Natal, Rio Grande do Norte, a city in Brazil * Natal, South Africa (disambiguation), a region in South Africa ** Natalia Republic, a former country (1839–1843) ** Colony of Natal, a former British colony ( ...

) is a retired

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

n politician affiliated with the

African National Congress The African National Congress (ANC) is a Social democracy, social-democratic political party in Republic of South Africa, South Africa. A liberation movement known for its opposition to apartheid, it has governed the country since 1994, when ...

, academic and businessman of Indian origin. He was the official spokesperson of the former

President of South Africa The president of South Africa is the head of state and head of government of the Republic of South Africa. The president heads the executive branch of the Government of South Africa and is the commander-in-chief of the South African Nationa ...

Jacob Zuma Jacob Gedleyihlekisa Zuma (; born 12 April 1942) is a South African politician who served as the fourth president of South Africa from 2009 to 2018. He is also referred to by his initials JZ and clan name Msholozi, and was a former anti-aparth ...

Anti-apartheid activism

Maharaj was a political activist and member of the then banned

South African Communist Party The South African Communist Party (SACP) is a communist party in South Africa. It was founded in 1921 as the Communist Party of South Africa (CPSA), tactically dissolved itself in 1950 in the face of being declared illegal by the governing Na ...

, who worked in a clandestine manner on anti-apartheid activities with

Nelson Mandela Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela (; ; 18 July 1918 – 5 December 2013) was a South African Internal resistance to apartheid, anti-apartheid activist who served as the President of South Africa, first president of South Africa from 1994 to 1 ...

. In July 1964, Maharaj was arrested in Johannesburg, charged and convicted with four others including

Laloo Chiba Ishwarlal Laloo "Isu" Chiba (5 November 1930 – 8 December 2017) was a South African politician and revolutionary. He was arrested and sentenced at the Little Rivonia Trial in 1964 with Mac Maharaj and Wilton Mkwayi to join Nelson Mandela, Walter ...

and

Wilton Mkwayi Wilton Zimasile Mkwayi (17 December 1923 – 24 July 2004) was an African National Congress veteran and one of the first six members of Umkonto weSizwe to be sent for military training. Early life Wilton “Bri-Bri” Zimasile Mkwayi was born ...

on charges of sabotage in the

little Rivonia Trial The Little Rivonia Trial was a South African apartheid-era court case in which several members of the armed resistance organization Umkhonto we Sizwe faced charges of sabotage. The accused were: Laloo Chiba, Dave Kitson, Mac Maharaj, John Matthe ...

, and was imprisoned on

Robben Island Robben Island ( af, Robbeneiland) is an island in Table Bay, 6.9 kilometres (4.3 mi) west of the coast of Bloubergstrand, north of Cape Town, South Africa. It takes its name from the Dutch word for seals (''robben''), hence the Dutch/Afrik ...

with Mandela. In prison he secretly transcribed parts of Mandela's memoir ''

Long Walk to Freedom ''Long Walk to Freedom'' is an autobiography credited to South African President Nelson Mandela. It was ghostwritten by Richard Stengel and first published in 1994 by Little Brown & Co. The book profiles his early life, coming of age, education ...

'' and smuggled it out of the prison in 1976. During his time in prison, Maharaj completed a B.Admin, an MBA and the second year of a B.Sc degree before his release on 8 December 1976. After being released from the Robben Island prison in 1976, Maharaj was deployed by the

ANC The African National Congress (ANC) is a social-democratic political party in South Africa. A liberation movement known for its opposition to apartheid, it has governed the country since 1994, when the first post-apartheid election install ...

to Zambia in 1977. He was elected to the National Executive Committee of the ANC in 1985. From 1988 to 1990 Maharaj worked underground in South Africa as part of the

Operation Vula Operation Vula (also known as Operation Vulindlela, IsiXhosa language, Xhosa for ''Open the Road'') was a secret domestic programme of the African National Congress (ANC) during the final years of apartheid in South Africa. Initiated in 1986 at t ...

, which was a project to infiltrate the ANC's top leaders back into South Africa. During this time Maharaj worked with

Schabir Shaik Schabir Shaik is a South African businessman from Berea, Durban, who rose to prominence due to his close association with former South African President Jacob Zuma during Zuma's time as Deputy President. On 2 June 2005, he was found guilty of corr ...

's two brothers, Yunis Shaik and

Moe Shaik Moe Shaik, also known as Mo Shaik (born 1958 or 1959), is a South African civil servant and former intelligence operative. He is a former chief of the National Intelligence Co-ordinating Committee and a former director of the foreign intellig ...

, also members of the ANC. Maharaj reported to the then ANC intelligence chief

Role in government

He was appointed

's new

Minister of Transport A ministry of transport or transportation is a ministry responsible for transportation within a country. It usually is administered by the ''minister for transport''. The term is also sometimes applied to the departments or other government agen ...

on 11 May 1994, a post he kept until the general election of 1999.

Private sector

After the national elections of 1999, Mac Maharaj stepped down from politics, then joined

FirstRand Bank FirstRand Limited, also referred to as FirstRand Group is the holding company of FirstRand Bank, and is a financial services provider in South Africa. It is one of the financial services providers licensed by the Reserve Bank of South Africa, ...

as its highest paid non-executive director.

Controversies

In February 2003 the

n newspaper, ''The Sunday Times'', published allegations that Mac Maharaj and his wife Zarina had received more than R500,000 between May 1998 and February 1999 from a businessman,

, who had shared in two multi-million rand contracts awarded by the Ministry of Transport whilst Maharaj was Minister. In August 2003 Maharaj resigned from FirstRand Bank following the media furor around the allegations of corruption. In March 2007 the South African newspaper, ''City Press'', published allegations that Maharaj's wife Zarina opened a Swiss bank account in 1996, and two days after opening it, received over $100,000 into the account from

. Six months later, in March 1997, the same Swiss account received a further $100,000 from Schabir Shaik. On 6 July 2011 he was appointed by President Jacob Zuma as his Spokesperson with immediate effect. In November 2011 the South African newspaper ''

Mail & Guardian The ''Mail & Guardian'' is a South African weekly newspaper and website, published by M&G Media in Johannesburg, South Africa. It focuses on political analysis, investigative reporting, Southern African news, local arts, music and popular cultu ...

'' attempted to publish further allegations about both Mac and Zarina Maharaj, in relation to their interviews by prosecutors in 2003, but did not do so after Mac Maharaj laid criminal charges against the newspaper for allegedly infringing the laws protecting the secrecy of the 2003 prosecutor interviews. Maharaj has never been charged by South African prosecutors supposedly because it would have been difficult to prove that Maharaj had corrupt intentions when he and his wife received money from Schabir Shaik.

Academic affiliations

In 2005, he joined the faculty of

Bennington College Bennington College is a private liberal arts college in Bennington, Vermont. Founded in 1932 as a women's college, it became co-educational in 1969. It claims to be the first college to include visual and performing arts as an equal partner in ...

Vermont Vermont () is a state in the northeast New England region of the United States. Vermont is bordered by the states of Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, and New York to the west, and the Canadian province of Quebec to ...

, USA.

Quotes

*"You don't have to carry a gun to be a freedom fighter."Empowerment Radio with Tunde Obazee KNON 89.3 FM Dallas, Tx – Live Broadcast 23 October 2006 *"Revenge should not be our motivation."