These are the main concessions that Mac Maharaj made under cross-examination about the spy report written by Mo Shaik :

Marumo Moerane, SC, for Bulelani Ngcuka, listed people present at the 1988 Nadel meeting in Port Elizabeth and said to Maharaj : "Would you believe (members of the legal fraternity) if they say Ngcuka was not there?"

Maharaj : I don not know. I don't have any information to dispute what you say.

Moerane : That is another nail in the coffin of the MJK Report.

Referring to information about Ngcuka's taking a trip to Dakar, Moerane said : "It is not correct."

Maharaj : I concede that it is wrong. I mentioned (that it was wrong) to Shaik. He said that the Security Branch referred to all conferences about post-apartheid South Africa as trips to Dakar or safaris.

Moerane : This report is crystal-clear. It says Ngcuka took a trip to Dakar. And it is false.

After a long exchange, in which Moerane implored Maharaj to say "I do not know", Maharaj said : "I do not know that Ngcuka was a spy."

Moerane replied : "Now the whole South Africa knows that Mac Maharaj does not know whether Ngcuka was a spy."

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