Zarina Maharaj

Despite many volumes being written about South Africans involved in the struggle for democracy, few are first-hand accounts by the women who stood side by side with their men on the front lines. This book is a woman’s perspective on what life was like in the struggle as she simultaneously raised a family and pursued a career, while striving to retain an identity of her own. Zarina Maharaj’s story takes us from her childhood in Johannesburg, which set the tone for the rest of her unconventional life, to self-imposed exile in London, Mozambique and Zambia. It tells of her struggle to raise her children alone while her husband led a top-secret underground operation in South Africa, her concerns for his safety, her efforts to have him freed after his capture by Special Branch police, and her approach to the controversies that continue to surround her family today. Dancing to a Different Rhythm is not only an eyewitness account of life with the ANC-in-exile, but a bittersweet love story set against almost insurmountable odds, and a testimony to the fact that in liberation, freedom can remain as elusive as ever. Above all, it is the story of a woman who, despite numerous sacrifices and continuing adversity, always dances to a rhythm of her own.