Making a Difference
Sathyandranath “Mac” Maharaj
As a member of the National Executive Committee of the African National Congress (ANC), its armed wing Umkhonto weSizwe, and of the South African Communist Party, Mac Maharaj played a pivotal role in South Africa’s liberation struggle. He was imprisoned in Robben Island alongside Nelson Mandela and later lived in exile. As secretary of the Convention for a Democratic South Africa (CODESA), Mac Maharaj was involved in negotiations on the transition from apartheid to democracy. He became Minister of Transport in South Africa’s first democratically elected government and, later, a director at FirstRand Bank and spokesperson of former President Jacob Zuma.
Reflections in Prison
While imprisoned on Robben Island, Nelson Mandela and several of his comrades wrote essays on South Africa’s political future. Fellow prisoner Mac Maharaj smuggled the manuscripts out and published them in the volume Reflections in Prison: Voices from the South African liberation struggle. The essays, written by Nelson Mandela, Walter Sisulu, Govan Mbeki and others, offer insights into the ideas, strategies and hopes of some of the most important anti-apartheid movement leaders on the eve of the 1976 Soweto uprising. We discuss the essays and their meaning for the present and future in South Africa and beyond with the editor, Mac Maharaj.
Discussants:
Elísio Macamo, Professor for African Studies/Director of the Centre for African Studies, University of Basel
Therese Steffen, Professor for English literature em., University of Basel
Danelle van Zyl, postdoc fellow, Department of History, University of Basel
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