Bloemfontein: Mac Maharaj is a man who has lived with "more than traitors", but still he did not object when the cabinet was about to hand the country's prosecuting powers to a man the ANC had once suspected of being a spy.

During his gruelling cross-examination at the Hefer Commission yesterday, several advocates had one specific question which they kept asking.

"Why did not you tell the cabinet that the man they were about to appoint as National Director of Public Prosecutions, Bulelani Ngcuka, had been suspected of being a spy?"

In response to this question from evidence leader Kessie Naidu SC, the former transport minister replied that he had not remembered about the 1989 investigation into Ngcuka.

Maharaj said he would not have objected to Ngcuka's appointment in any case for a number of reasons including the overriding importance of national reconciliation.

Naidu: Did you raise your suspicions about Ngcuka when his appointment was announced?

Maharaj: No. I was focused on promoting national reconciliation. Ngcuka was doing his job well. I had no issue with his appointment.

Hefer: Did you think back to 1989?

Maharaj: No.

Norman Arendse SC, counsel for Justice Minister Penuell Maduna, also pursued the issue.

Arendse: Why did you think of national reconciliation when Ngcuka's name was mentioned?

Maharaj: It was the platform for all I did.

Arendse: But why did you think about it?

Maharaj: I always thought about it.

Arendse: This shows one of two things. Either that it crossed your mind that Mo Shaik had mentioned Ngcuka to you in the late 1980s.

Maharaj: I did not recall it then.

Arendse: Alternatively, you made it up.

Maharaj: I reject this with contempt. I don't cook up things. I have done no cooking here. I find the two options distasteful.

Arendse: Why did you not object?

Arendse then argued that, unless the issue of Ngcuka raised a red flag in Maharaj's mind, Maharaj would not have had to rationalise the issue in terms of national reconciliation.

Maharaj would not have thought of Ngcuka as someone with whom the country needed to be "reconciled".

Maharaj continued to argue that at the time of Ngcuka's appointment he simply did not remember about the spy investigation.

After concluding his cross-examination on the national reconciliation issue, Naidu said the following: "If we strip away all the verbiage, Mo Shaik said Bulelani Ngcuka was a traitor."

Maharaj: I lived with more than traitors.

Naidu: Answer the question.

Maharaj: I would say he betrayed confidence.

Naidu: And you regarded him as no different than the enemy?

Maharaj: Yes

Later Maharaj said: "I am not here as an accused or an accuser. I want to help the commission."

Judge Joos Hefer: Why are you so anxious to help? Most people try to avoid their civic duties.

Maharaj: When I said I would go public, I went to the president. I stood up for what I believed in. If democracy becomes a shell, I do not want to regret that I did nothing.

Maharaj publicly confirmed allegations that Ngcuka was investigated for being a spy only after he had been on the receiving end of a Scorpions corruption investigation.

Hefer: But how would it help you to say that Ngcuka was a spy?

Maharaj: Ngcuka's conduct did not fit the profile of an ANC member. Here was an ANC rebel abusing his power almost with impunity.

Hefer: How would it stop your "persecution" (by Ngcuka)?

Maharaj: It would not stop my persecution.

Hefer: But you would have a reason (for making the claim)?

Maharaj: It would help me to understand - I dare him (Ngcuka) to charge me. I have nothing to fear.

I have a huge hardship to face. I still don't understand why this is happening.

Arendse also grilled Maharaj on the information he had about the spy allegations.

Arendse: Is Mo Shaik's report the only basis for you jumping to your own conclusions? You are of no value as a source.

Maharaj: I only confirmed that there was an investigation and repeatedly raised instances of abuse of power.

Arendse: (I put it to you that) you confirmed the spy investigation because of what happened to you.

Arendse asked Maharaj to explain to the commission how he linked allegations about Ngcuka abusing his power and Ngcuka allegedly having been a spy.

Maharaj: I don't want to go into that.

Arendse: But what would motivate him (Ngcuka)?

Maharaj: Ask Ngcuka that question. I can only speculate.

Arendse: Don't beat about the bush. Help us understand.

Maharaj: Ngcuka has an ulterior motive.

Arendse: Because he was a spy?

Maharaj: He abused his power.

Maharaj referred the commission to the "tolerant" way in which the ANC dealt with informers after 1994.

Naidu: It was agreed that neither side would reveal the names of spies?

Maharaj: If people abuse their power and undermine democracy, that requirement falls away.

Arendse said that making spy allegations seemed to be common practice in post-1994 South Africa and added that Maharaj himself had been accused of being a spy.

Arendse: This is the book Sell-Out. It was written by PJ Pretorius. It is a terrible book. I am not relying on what is in it. My point is that this book accuses you of being a spy. Allegations like that are made from both sides.

Maharaj: I have never heard of him. Show me his credentials.

With acknowledgements to Estelle Ellis, Jeremy Gordin and the Cape Times.