Sathyandranath Ragunanan "Mac" Maharaj (born 22 April 1936 in Newcastle, Natal) 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 coun ...

n politician affiliated with the

African National Congress 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 ...

, 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 Nat ...

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 N ...

, 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 anti-apartheid activist who served as the first president of South Africa from 1994 to 1999. He was the country's first black head of state and the ...

. In July 1964, Maharaj was arrested in Johannesburg, charged and convicted with four others including Laloo Chiba and Wilton Mkwayi on charges of sabotage in the little Rivonia Trial, and was imprisoned on Robben Island with Mandela. In prison he secretly transcribed parts of Mandela's memoir '' Long Walk to Freedom'' 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 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 ANC's

Operation Vula Operation Vula (also known as Operation Vulindlela, 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 the ANC headquarters ...

, which was a project to infiltrate the ANC's top leaders back into South Africa. During this time Maharaj worked with Schabir Shaik's two brothers, Yunis Shaik and Moe Shaik, 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 a ...

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 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, Schabir Shaik, 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 Schabir Shaik. 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 cult ...

'' 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 U.S. state, 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 (state), New York to the west, and the Provin ...

, 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."