HIGHER EDUCATION TODAY - MAC MAHARAJ ON FREEDOM Guest: Mac Maharaj, Former Minister of Transport, Republic of South Africa Host: Steven Roy Goodman Original Air Date: 28 August 2023 Mac Maharaj, the former Minister of Transport, an Anti-Apartheid Activist skilled in concealment, was tasked with the mission of smuggling out the first parts of Nelson Mandela’s autobiography, Long Walk to Freedom, from Robben Island. He oversaw a political – military operation that included ANC leadership communications between Lusaka and South Africa and the smuggling of weapons from Botswana, Mozambique, Swaziland and Zimbabwe into South Africa. There was a related smuggling operation, Africa Hinterland, that hid weapons under the seats of tourists on a safari truck as part of the armed struggle. These operations were set up under conditions of political organizations being banned in South Africa, mass mobilization going on in the country, the ANC leading an underground international campaign, and the armed struggle. The purpose was to bring leaders from exile and to mobilize these organizations to work in tandem in South Africa. Secret messages were passed to Mandela through his lawyer during visits in prison. The ANC signed the Geneva Protocol / Convention on unconventional warfare and in 1990, Nelson Mandela declared a suspension of the Armed Struggle. Arms smuggling though Africa Hinterland continued after Mandela’s speech. Mac Maharaj addressed concerns on the price paid for the underground struggle, such as frustrations leading to internal violence (necklacing), which led to media reports and a world perspective of black-on-black violence and the perceptions of the liberation struggle as a communist struggle. ‘’ALL GENERATIONS MUST TREASURE FREEDOM - HUMAN SOCIETIES ACHIEVE FREEDOM THROUGH STRUGGLE. FREEDOM IS A PRECIOUS JEWEL.’’ – Mac Maharaj