When I meet Mac Maharaj for a one-on-one interview at his home in Morningside, he makes it clear that he has no intention of commenting on current issues. To do so would necessitate a return to active politics, he says, which he retired from in 1999 after one term as transport minister in Nelson Mandela’s Cabinet.
Maharaj’s declaration is odd for two reasons. First, he has said that Padraig O’Maley’s biography of him, Shades of Difference, should be viewed as a catalyst in opening the shut lid on debate, within the ANC and throughout the country at large. Second, he was recently quoted saying that Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) defaulters, such as Adriaan Vlok, should be dealt with ‘politically†as opposed to being ‘shunted off to a bureaucracy to handleâ€.
The bureaucracy Maharaj referred to is, of course, the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), an organ that still dangles corruption charges dating back to 2003 over his head; which was once led by Bulelani Ngcuka, a man Maharaj accused of abusing the powers vested in him when they squared off at the Hefer Commission.
‘Political actors should take responsibility because if the NPA decides not to prosecute you, to whom does it become accountable?†asks Maharaj. ‘What we created to fight organised crime should not be used to deal with a political problem in our society … All I’m saying is that we want to take our country forward so that our children and grandchildren do not carry scars, so let us find a way to close this book nicely and properly with transparency, accountability and with the political parties taking responsibility.â€
About the same time Maharaj made his statement, the presidency’s spokesperson Mukoni Ratshitanga defended the NPA, saying the guidelines on the post-TRC legal process that it followed were endorsed by Cabinet and adopted by Parliament. ‘Parliament is not infallible, the courts are not infallible and the media is not infallible, Cabinet is not and no president is. They should be able to revisit that decision when they see the wounds beginning to fester,†says Maharaj.
Although he has said that he wants his biography to stimulate wider debate, Maharaj prefers not to cite specific examples of how debate within the party has become paralysed, saying key incidents have been widely documented in the media. ‘Debates were taking place within labels and that labelling was race or class. If you raised a view it was tested by whether it was accused of [being] a view that is racist or not racist.â€
In his book’s last chapter, O’Malley echoes this, writing that in ‘sections of the black elite, there is a preoccupation with it [race], and with Thabo Mbeki, a virtual obsessionâ€.
But developments within the ANC and the public at large have forced the ANC to entertain more debate.
Regarding the succession debate, Maharaj says he has never backed Zuma on any issue. He also kept mum about the source of his unpleasant relationship with the president, but unambiguously dismissed the oft-quoted ‘nebulous suspicion†that it stemmed from his alleged backing of Cyril Ramaphosa over Mbeki to head the ANC’s negotiating team for Codesa.
He does, however, believe that ‘the office of the presidency†has a hand in his increasing isolation within the ANC, citing a particularly painful snub when he was not invited to the opening of the new international wing of what was then Johannesburg International Airport, a project conceived during his term as transport minister.
‘Did I feel pain? Yes,†he admits. ‘And I said tough luck for the office because it shows that people holding such a high office in the country are so petty-minded.â€
Still, he believes the ANC has the capacity to retrace its steps, particularly with regard to its economic policies, which he feels should be more protectionist. ‘We made mistakes. How else do you explain the extra rapidity with which we reduced tariffs protecting our clothing industry, except that we thought that by doing more than what was required, we would get some assistance from the global world leaders and the economy controllers — [One of the other measures we undertook] was looking for public/private sector partnerships in restructuring state organs, particularly under transport. Some succeeded, others not. But we simply began to look like we were privatising for privatisation’s sake.
‘Now the country has changed from that and is now talking about state interventions, using the parastatals, but it doesn’t say what we did, that maybe we tilted the balance too far. If the parastatal route does not lead to the desired outcome, we would have to ask: what next?â€
While he has been viewed as a pariah in the ANC, he still considers himself a loyal member of the organisation. But politics is not for him, he says. He’s always considered himself to be a freedom fighter. He was thrust into political leadership and has no intention of returning to active duty. His life is now about lecturing, writing, reflecting and imparting knowledge to others. During the years of turmoil and opposition to the apartheid state, his family suffered the most and carried a heavy burden. The future will be about spending more time with his family and enjoying family life, he says.