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This is a short review of Padraig O’Malley’s Shades of Difference that I did for the latest issue of Equal Treatment (the TAC’s magazine):

In his foreword to Shades of Difference, former President Nelson Mandela says “Mac put the struggle for the freedom of South Africa above everything in his life.” Whatever flaws Mac Maharaj may have, this is certainly true. For this reason, and because of the central role he played in it, a study of Maharaj’s life is also a study of the struggle. It is often argued that in order to build a better future it is necessary to come to terms with the past — particularly in a country with a history such as ours. Padraig O’Malley has produced a very important contribution to this task.

Mac Maharaj was imprisoned for thirteen years for his underground activities as a member of the SACP in the 1950s and early 1960s. After his arrest he was brutally tortured, but never betrayed his comrades. While being incarcerated on Robben Island, he became close to Mandela and Walter Sisulu, and smuggled Madiba’s autobiography out of prison. After his release, he went into exile and worked full time for the ANC, winning the trust also of OR Tambo (largely because he was one of the most able and resourceful leaders in the ANC). In the 1980s he led the ANC’s efforts to rebuild its underground organisation inside South Africa — often at great personal risk.

Shades of Difference has an unusual format. The first half of each chapter is introduced by O’Malley and the second half is in Maharaj’s own words (based on extensive interviews) — Mandela calls this “two brutal honesties clashing”. The introductions sketch the context of the events related by Maharaj, and provide an independent perspective. O’Malley’s sympathetic yet critical account does not spare Maharaj, other liberation leaders or the ANC itself from having their failings pointed out. For example, the almost exclusive reliance on a strategy of armed struggle in the 1970s and 80s resulted in very little progress until internal mobilisation not led by the ANC — the Soweto uprisings and later the United Democratic Front and Mass Democratic Movement — started to shake the apartheid regime’s hold on power.

Maharaj’s account, on the other hand, gives one a clear impression of the immense odds against which they were working, as well as of the tremendous personal sacrifices made by so many in the struggle. By honestly presenting the story of Mac Maharaj, Shades of Difference will do much to help us understand our history, and therefore also our present and future. This is a book that should be read by every South African.