Thabo Mbeki

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Thabo Mvuyelwa Mbeki  KStJ GCB(Hon) GCMG OE
President of South Africa
Incumbent
Assumed office  14 June 1999
Vice President	Jacob Zuma Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka
Preceded by	Nelson Mandela
Secretary General of Non-Aligned Movement
In office 14 June 1999 – 25 February 2003
Preceded by	Nelson Mandela
Born	18 June 1942 (1942-06-18) (age 65) Idutywa, South Africa
Political party	ANC
Spouse	Zanele Dlamini[1]

Thabo Mvuyelwa Mbeki,^[2][3] KStJ^[4] GCB (Honorary)^[5] GCMG, OE^[6] (born June 18, 1942)^[2] is the current President of the Republic of South Africa.^[2]

Contents 1 Early years 2 Exile and return 3 Role in African politics 4 Economic policies 5 Political style 6 Mbeki and the Internet 7 Controversies 7.1 Zimbabwe 7.1.1 2002 Presidential elections 7.1.2 2005 parliamentary elections 7.1.3 Dialogue between Zanu-PF and MDC 7.1.4 Business response 7.1.5 Position on Mugabe 7.2 AIDS 7.2.1 2006 Zuma Rape Trial 7.2.2 Mbeki and the Cabinet 7.2.3 AIDS denialist Connections 7.3 Power crisis 7.4 Crime 7.5 2008 riots 8 Debate with Archbishop Tutu 9 Mbeki, Zuma, and succession 10 Acclaim 10.1 Honorary degrees 10.2 Orders and decorations 10.3 Awards 11 See also 12 Notes 13 Further reading 14 External links

[edit] Early years

Born and raised in what is now the Eastern Cape province of South Africa, Mbeki is the son of Epainette and Govan Mbeki. His father was a stalwart of the African National Congress (ANC) and the South African Communist Party. He is a native Xhosa speaker. His parents were both teachers and activists in a rural area of ANC strength, and Mbeki describes himself as "born into the struggle"; a portrait of Karl Marx sat on the family mantelpiece, and a portrait of Mohandas Gandhi was on the wall.^[7]

Govan Mbeki had come to the rural Eastern Cape as a political activist after earning two university degrees; he urged his family to make the ANC their family, and of his children, Thabo Mbeki is the one who most clearly followed that instruction, joining the party at age 14 and devoting his life to it thereafter.^[8][7] His cousin Phindile Mfeti disappeared without a trace during the apartheid era, and the family to this day does not know what happened to him.^[9]

[edit] Exile and return

Apartheid in South Africa
Events and Projects
Sharpeville Massacre · Soweto uprising Treason Trial Rivonia Trial · Church Street bombing CODESA · St James Church massacre
Organisations
ANC · IFP · AWB · Black Sash · CCB Conservative Party · ECC · PP · RP PFP · HNP · MK · PAC · SACP · UDF Broederbond · National Party · COSATU SADF · SAP
People
P.W Botha · Oupa Gqozo · DF Malan Nelson Mandela · Desmond Tutu · F.W. de Klerk Walter Sisulu · Helen Suzman · Harry Schwarz Andries Treurnicht · HF Verwoerd · Oliver Tambo BJ Vorster · Kaiser Matanzima · Jimmy Kruger Steve Biko · Mahatma Gandhi · Trevor Huddleston
Places
Bantustan · District Six · Robben Island Sophiatown · South-West Africa Soweto · Vlakplaas
Other aspects
Apartheid laws · Freedom Charter Sullivan Principles · Kairos Document Disinvestment campaign South African Police
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After leaving the Eastern Cape, he lived in Johannesburg, working with Walter Sisulu. After the arrest and imprisonment of Sisulu, Mandela and his father, and facing a similar fate, Thabo Mbeki left South Africa as one of a number of young ANC militants (MK/Umkhonto we Sizwe cadres) sent abroad to continue their education and their anti-apartheid activities. He ultimately spent 28 years in exile, only returning to his homeland after the release of Nelson Mandela.

Mbeki spent the early years of his exile in the United Kingdom, earning a Master of Economics degree from the University of Sussex and then working in the ANC's London office on Penton Street. He received military training in what was then the Soviet Union and lived at different times in Botswana, Swaziland and Nigeria, but his primary base was in Lusaka, Zambia, the site of the ANC headquarters.

While in exile, his brother Jama Mbeki , a supporter of the rival Pan Africanist Congress , was murdered by agents of the Lesotho government in 1982 while attempting to assist the Lesotho Liberation Army. His son Kwanda–the product of a liaison in Mbeki's teenage years–was killed while trying to leave South Africa to join his father. When Mbeki finally was able to return home to South Africa and was reunited with his own father, the elder Mbeki told a reporter, "You must remember that Thabo Mbeki is no longer my son. He is my comrade!" A news article pointed out that this was an expression of pride, explaining, "For Govan Mbeki, a son was a mere biological appendage; to be called a comrade, on the other hand, was the highest honour."^[7]

Mbeki devoted his life to the ANC and during his years in exile was given increased responsibility. Following the 1976 Soweto riots, a student uprising in the township outside Johannesburg, he initiated a regular radio broadcast from Lusaka, tieing ANC followers inside the country to their exiled leaders. Encouraging activists to keep up the pressure on the apartheid regime was a key component in the ANC's campaign to liberate their country. In the late 1970s Mbeki made a number of trips to the United States in search of support among U.S. corporations. Literate and funny, he made a wide circle of friends in New York City. Mbeki was appointed head of the ANC's information department in 1984 and then became head of the international department in 1989, reporting directly to Oliver Tambo, then President of the ANC. Tambo was Mbeki's long-time mentor.

In 1985, Mbeki was a member of a delegation that began meeting secretly with representatives of the South African business community, and in 1989, he led the ANC delegation that conducted secret talks with the South African government. These talks led to the unbanning of the ANC and the release of political prisoners. He also participated in many of the other important discussions between the ANC and the government that eventually led to the democratisation of South Africa.^[3]

He became a deputy president of South Africa in May 1994 on the attainment of universal suffrage (Right To Vote), and sole deputy-president in June 1996. He succeeded Nelson Mandela as ANC president in December 1997 and as president of the Republic in June 1999 (inaugurated on June 16); he was subsequently reelected for a second term in April 2004.

[edit] Role in African politics

Mbeki has been a notably powerful figure in African politics, positioning South Africa as a regional powerbroker and also promoting the idea that African political conflicts should be solved by Africans. He headed the formation of both the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD) and the African Union (AU) and has played influential roles in brokering peace deals in Rwanda, Burundi, Ivory Coast and the Democratic Republic of Congo. He has also tried to popularise the concept of an African Renaissance. He sees African dependence on aid and foreign intervention as a major barrier to the continent being taken seriously in the world of economics and politics, and sees structures like NEPAD and the AU as part of a process in which Africa solves its own problems without relying on outside assistance.

[edit] Economic policies

The CIA Factbook says: "South African economic policy is fiscally conservative, but pragmatic, focusing on targeting inflation and liberalising trade as means to increase job growth and household income."^[10]

[edit] Political style

Mbeki has sometimes been characterised as remote and academic, although in his second campaign for Presidency in 2004, many observers described him as finally relaxing into a more traditional campaign mode, sometimes dancing at events and even kissing babies. Yet, the fact that this was remarkable confirms the broader observation that Mbeki values the exercise of centralised policy over demonstrations of grassroots populism.

Mbeki's thinking can often be found in his weekly column in the ANC newsletter ANC Today,^[11] where he often produces discussions on a variety of topics. He sometimes uses his column to deliver pointed invectives against political opponents, and at other times uses it as a kind of professor of political theory, educating ANC cadres on the intellectual justifications for ANC policy. Although these columns are remarkable for their dense prose, they often manage to make news. Although Mbeki does not generally make a point of befriending or courting reporters, his columns and news events have often yielded good results for his administration by ensuring that his message is a primary driving force of news coverage.^[12] Indeed, in initiating his columns, Mbeki stated his view that the bulk of South African media sources did not speak for or to the South African majority, and stated his intent to use ANC Today to speak directly to his constituents rather than through the media.^[13]

[edit] Mbeki and the Internet

Unlike many world leaders, Mbeki appears to be at ease with the Internet and willing to quote from it. For instance, in a column discussing Hurricane Katrina,^[14] he cited Wikipedia, quoted at length a discussion of Katrina's lessons on American inequality from the Native American publication Indian Country Today,^[15] and then included excerpts from a David Brooks column in the New York Times in a discussion of why the events of Katrina illustrated the necessity for global development and redistribution of wealth.

His penchant for quoting diverse and sometimes obscure sources, both from the Internet and from a wide variety of books, makes his column an interesting parallel to political blogs although the ANC does not describe it in these terms. His views on AIDS (see below) were supported by Internet searching which led him to so-called "AIDS denialist" websites; in this case, Mbeki's use of the Internet was roundly criticised and even ridiculed by opponents.

[edit] Controversies

[edit] Zimbabwe

Due to South Africa's proximity, strong trade links, and similar struggle credentials, South Africa is in a unique position to influence politics in Zimbabwe. Zimbabwe's economic slide since 2000 has been a matter of increasing concern to Britain (as the former colonial power) and other donors to that country, and high-ranking diplomatic visits to South Africa have repeatedly attempted to persuade Mbeki to take a harder line with Robert Mugabe, over violent attacks on political opponents and opposition movements, takeovers of white-owned farms by groups of Mugabe-allied war veterans, freedom of the press, and independence of the judiciary.

To the concern of many, Mbeki has never publicly criticised Mugabe's policies - preferring 'quiet diplomacy' rather than 'megaphone diplomacy', his term for the West's increasingly forthright condemnation of Mugabe's rule.

To quote Mbeki -

"The point really about all this from our perspective has been that the critical role we should play is to assist the Zimbabweans to find each other, really to agree among themselves about the political, economic, social, other solutions that their country needs. We could have stepped aside from that task and then shouted, and that would be the end of our contribution...They would shout back at us and that would be the end of the story. I'm actually the only head of government that I know anywhere in the world who has actually gone to Zimbabwe and spoken publicly very critically of the things that they are doing."

[edit] 2002 Presidential elections

Mugabe faced a critical presidential election in 2002. The runup was shadowed by a difficult decision to suspend Zimbabwe from the Commonwealth. The full meeting of the Commonwealth had failed in a consensus to decide on the issue, and they tasked the previous, present (at the time), and future leaders of Commonwealth - (respectively President Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria, John Howard of Australia, and Mbeki of South Africa) to come to a consensus between them over the issue. On March 20, 2002 (10 days after the elections, which Mugabe won) Howard announced that they had agreed to suspend Zimbabwe for a year.

[edit] 2005 parliamentary elections

In the face of recent passage of laws restricting public assembly and freedom of the media, muzzling campaigning by the MDC for the 2005 Zimbabwe parliamentary elections, President Mbeki was quoted as saying: I have no reason to think that anything will happen … that anybody in Zimbabwe will act in a way that will militate against the elections being free and fair. [ ...] As far as I know, things like an independent electoral commission, access to the public media, the absence of violence and intimidation … those matters have been addressed.

Current deputy-president Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka (Minerals and Energy Minister at that time) led the largest foreign observer mission to oversee the elections. That observer mission congratulated the people of Zimbabwe for holding a peaceful, credible and well-mannered election which reflects the will of the people.

The elections were widely denounced and many accused Zanu-PF of massive and often violent intimidation, using food to buy votes, and large discrepancies in the tallying of votes.

[edit] Dialogue between Zanu-PF and MDC

Mbeki has been attempting to restore dialogue between Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe and the opposition Movement for Democratic Change in the face of denials from both parties. A fact-finding mission in 2004 by Congress of South African Trade Unions to Zimbabwe led to their widely-publicised deportation back to South Africa which reopened the debate, even within the ANC, as to whether Mbeki's policy of 'quiet diplomacy' is constructive.

On February 5, 2006 Mbeki said in an interview with SABC television that Zimbabwe had missed a chance to resolve its political crisis in 2004 when secret talks to agree on a new constitution ended in failure. He claimed that he saw a copy of a new constitution signed by all parties.^[16] The job of promoting dialogue between the ruling party and the opposition was likely made more difficult by divisions within the MDC, splits to which the president alluded when he stated that the MDC were "sorting themselves out."^[17] In turn, the MDC unanimously rejected this assertion. (MDC-Mutambara Faction's) secretary general Welshman Ncube said "We never gave Mbeki a draft constitution - unless it was ZANU PF which did that. Mbeki has to tell the world what he was really talking about."^[18]

There were reports in May 2007 that Mbeki had been partisan and taken sides with Zanu-PF in his role as mediator. He had given pre-conditions to the opposition Movement for Democratic Change before the dialogue could resume while giving no conditions given to the government side. He has asked that the MDC be required to accept and recognize that Robert Mugabe was the president of Zimbabwe and that he won the 2002 elections^[19] despite the fact that they were fraudulent.^[20][21][22]

[edit] Business response

On January 10, 2006, businessman Warren Clewlow, who serves on the boards of four of the top 10 listed companies in SA, including Old Mutual, Sasol, Nedbank and Barloworld, said that government should stop its unsuccessful behind-the-scenes attempts to resolve the Zimbabwean crisis and start vociferously condemning what was happening in that country. Clewlow's sentiments, a clear indicator that the private sector is getting increasingly impatient with government's "quiet diplomacy" policy on Zimbabwe, were echoed by Business Unity SA (Busa), the umbrella body for all business organisations in the country.^[23]

As the company's chairman, he said in Barloworld's latest annual report that SA's efforts to date were fruitless and that the only means for a solution was for SA "to lead from the front. Our role and responsibility is not just to promote discussion... Our aim must be to achieve meaningful and sustainable change."

[edit] Position on Mugabe

Mbeki has been criticized for having failed to exert pressure on Mr Mugabe to relinquish power^[24], but chaired meetings in which the Zimbabwean leader's departure from power is being negotiated.^[25] He rejected calls in May 2007 for tough action against Zimbabwe ahead of a visit by the UK Prime Minister at the time Tony Blair.^[26]He said on July 29, 2007 that Zimbabwe elections in March 2008 must be 'free and fair'.^[27] An article critical of Mbeki's handling of Mugabe appeared in Forbes and claimed a peaceful transfer of power in Zimbabwe "will not be because of [Mbeki], but in spite of him." ^[28]

Ebrahim Fakir, a researcher at the Johannesburg-based Centre for Policy Studies and Susan Booysen, political analyst at the University of the Witwatersrand say that Mbeki has botched his legacy over his cautious approach to Mugabe. The media has been very critical - The Washington Post published a commentary describing Mbeki as a bankrupt democrat and accused him of complicity in "stealing" the Zimbabwean election. The Economist magazine said Mbeki's actions were "unconscionable". ^[29]

[edit] AIDS

See also: HIV/AIDS in South Africa

See also: AIDS denialism

Mbeki's views on the causes and treatment of AIDS have also been criticised.

The International Conference for People Living with HIV and AIDS was held in South Africa in 1995, the first time that the annual conference had been held in Africa. The then Deputy President Thabo Mbeki, acknowledged the seriousness of the epidemic, and the South African Ministry of Health announced that some 850,000 people - 2.1% of the total population - were believed to be HIV-positive.

In 2000 the Department of Health outlined a five-year plan to combat AIDS, HIV and STIs. A National AIDS Council was set up to oversee these developments. But since then, President Mbeki and his administration have been repeatedly accused of failing to respond adequately to the epidemic. In April 2000 at the International AIDS Conference in Durban, President Mbeki made a speech that avoided reference to HIV and instead focused on the problem of poverty, increasing perceptions that he saw poverty as a powerful co-factor in AIDS diagnosis. President Mbeki defended a small group of dissident scientists who claim that AIDS is not caused by HIV.

Mbeki's government was applauded by AIDS activists for its successful legal defence against action brought by transnational pharmaceutical companies in April 2001 of a law that would allow cheaper locally-produced medicines.

AIDS advocates, particularly the Treatment Action Campaign and its allies, campaigned for a program to use anti-retroviral medicines to prevent HIV transmission from mother to child; and then for an overall national treatment program for AIDS that included antiretrovirals. In 2002 South Africa's High Court ordered the government to make the drug nevirapine available to pregnant women to help prevent mother to child transmission of HIV. Despite international drug companies offering free or cheap antiretroviral drugs, the Health Ministry remained hesitant about providing treatment for people living with HIV. In November 2003, the government finally approved a plan to make antiretroviral treatment publicly available. Until 2003, South Africans with HIV who used the public sector health system could get treatment for opportunistic infections they suffered because of their weakened immune systems, but could not get antiretrovirals, designed to specifically target HIV.

[edit] 2006 Zuma Rape Trial

In 2006 Jacob Zuma, the former South African Deputy-President (and current president of the ANC, the governing party), went on trial for allegedly raping an HIV-positive woman. He argued that she had consented to sex and was eventually found not guilty, but attracted controversy when he stated that he had showered after sex in the belief that this would reduce his chances of becoming infected with HIV. Criticism of the government’s response to AIDS heightened, with UN special envoy Stephen Lewis attacking the government as ‘obtuse and negligent’ at the International AIDS Conference in Toronto. At the end of the year, the government announced a draft framework to tackle AIDS and pledged to improve antiretroviral drug access. Civil society groups claimed that this marked a turning point in the government’s response. Current estimates suggest that 5.3 million South Africans have HIV.

[edit] Mbeki and the Cabinet

In the current South African system, the Cabinet can override the President. Although its votes are private, it appeared to have done so in votes to declare as Cabinet policy that HIV is the cause of AIDS; and then, in August 2003, in a promise to formulate a national treatment plan that would include ARVs. But the Health Ministry is still headed by Dr. Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, who has served as health minister since June 1999, and has promoted nutritional approaches to AIDS while highlighting potential toxicities of antiretroviral drugs. This led critics to question whether the same leadership that opposed ARV treatment would effectively carry out the treatment plan. Indeed, implementation has been slow and activists still criticise Mbeki's AIDS policies.

[edit] AIDS denialist Connections

Mbeki's more inclusive stance led some to connect him to AIDS denialism. While serving as deputy President, AIDS was in his portfolio, and he customarily wore a red ribbon while specifically promoting AIDS prevention measures. He did preside over a controversial and brief embrace of a South African experimental drug called Virodene which later proved to be ineffective; the episode appeared to have increased his skepticism about the scientific consensus that quickly condemned the drug.

After he assumed the Presidency, he appears to have articulated more clearly his understanding poverty is a significant co-factor in the prevalence of AIDS and other health problems. He urged political attention be directed to addressing poverty generally rather than only against AIDS specifically. Some speculate that the suspicion engendered by a life in exile and by the colonial domination and control of Africa led Mbeki to react against a portrayal of AIDS as another Western characterisation of Africans as promiscuous and Africa as a continent of disease and hopelessness.^[30] For example, speaking to a group of university students in 2001, he struck out against what he viewed as the racism underlying how many in the West characterised AIDS in Africa:

Convinced that we are but natural-born, promiscuous carriers of germs, unique in the world, they proclaim that our continent is doomed to an inevitable mortal end because of our unconquerable devotion to the sin of lust.^[31]

Additionally, his views dovetailed with some broader themes in African politics. Many Africans find it suspicious that black Africans bear the largest share of the AIDS burden, and that the drugs to treat it are expensive and sold mainly by Western pharmaceutical companies. The history of malicious and manipulative health policies of the colonial and apartheid governments in Africa, including biological warfare programs set up by the apartheid state, also help to fuel views that the scientific discourse of AIDS might be a tool for European and American political, cultural or economic agendas.

ANC rules and Mbeki's commitment to the idea of party discipline mean that he may not publicly criticise the current government policy that HIV causes AIDS and that antiretrovirals should be provided. Some critics of Mbeki continued to assert that notwithstanding he continued to influence AIDS policy through his personal views behind the scenes, a charge which his office regularly denies.^[32] However, in a 2007 published biography "Thabo Mbeki: The Dream Deferred", author Mark Gevisser describes how the president knowing that he was writing the biography contacted him earlier in 2007. This was to ask whether the author had seen a 100-page paper secretly authored by Mr Mbeki and distributed anonymously among the ANC leadership six years ago. This paper compared orthodox Aids scientists to latter-day Nazi concentration camp doctors and portrayed black people who accepted orthodox AIDS science as "self-repressed" victims of a slave mentality. It described the "HIV/Aids thesis" as entrenched in "centuries-old white racist beliefs and concepts about Africans". In the published biography Mr Gevisser describes the president's view of the disease as apparently shaped by an obsession with race, the legacy of colonialism and "sexual shame"^[33].

Since release of the biography, President Mbeki's defenders have tried hard to clarify his position as being an AIDS "dissident" as opposed to an AIDS "denier". That is, he accepts that HIV causes AIDS but is a dissident in that he is at odds with prevailing AIDS focused public health policies, stating that it is only one of many immune deficiency diseases, many of which are associated with poverty, and that political attention and resources should be directed to poverty and immune deficiency diseases generally rather than AIDS specifically.

[edit] Power crisis

In January 2008 the South African government announced that it would introduce electricity rationing, as the country's deepening power crisis forced the world's largest gold and platinum mining companies to shut down operations on 25 January 2008. Mbeki devoted nearly three pages of his next-to-last State of the Nation speech to the electricity crisis, repeating the apology of Eskom and the government for the blackouts (It's Business Unusual - http://www.thetimes.co.za/News/Article.aspx?id=701786) and blamed the power shortages on increased demand caused by years of economic growth and the provision of electricity to black townships that were not connected in the apartheid era. But Mbeki also admitted the government failed to heed a warning from Eskom (the national power supplier) 10 years ago that without new power stations it might not be able to meet demand by 2007. Furthermore each year since then, Eskom produced annual Integrated Strategic Electricity Plans with scenarios of future investment requirements, and although average demand growth in the period 2001 - 2005 had been close to planning projections, no action had been taken. Mbeki failed to respond to allegations that the government’s black empowerment strategy had been a root cause of the problem causing problems in procuring coal and leading to damage to the roads around the power stations. Warnings highlighted in several of Eskoms annual reports, starting in 2003, had been ignored not only by both the Eskom board but also its political masters, Mbeki’s government.

The problems have been exacerbated by Mbeki's government policy to attract energy-intensive industry (such as aluminium smelters) with the carrot of cheap electricity but, as Eskom’s excess capacity ran out and became a deficit, the South African government finds itself contractually bound to industries that keep running while the rest of the country experiences blackouts and the associated traffic chaos and loss of business. For South Africa to remain a desirable foreign investment destination the country must be seen to honour its contractual obligations. To shut down the smelters is not a simple process, said one analyst. Government would be paying the cost of effects all through the relevant parties aluminium value chain -- its aluminium refineries and bauxite ore mines in other countries. ^[34][35][36]

^[37]

[edit] Crime

In 2004 President Thabo Mbeki made a withering attack on commentators who argued that violent crime was out of control in South Africa, calling them white racists who want the country to fail. He said crime was falling but some journalists distorted reality by depicting black people as "barbaric savages" who liked to rape and kill. Annual statistics published in September 2004 showed that most categories of crime were down, but some had challenged the figures' credibility and said that South Africa remained extremely dangerous, especially for women. In a column for the African National Congress website, the president rebuked the doubters. Mr Mbeki did not name a white journalist, Charlene Smith, who had championed victims of sexual violence since writing about her own rape but quoted a recent article in which she said South Africa had the highest rate of rape and referred (apparently sarcastically) to her as an "internationally recognised expert on sexual violence". He said

"She was saying our cultures, traditions and religions as Africans inherently make every African man a potential rapist ... [a] view which defines the African people as barbaric savages."

Mr Mbeki also described the newspaper The Citizen, and other commentators who challenged the apparent fall in crime, as pessimists who did not trust black rule.

In January 2007 the African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) draft report on South Africa was due to be released. This noted that South Africa had the world's second-highest murder rate with about 50 people a day being killed, and that although serious crime was reported as falling, security analysts said that the use of violence in robberies, and rape, were more common. Mbeki in response said in an interview that fears of crime were exaggerated.^[38]

In December 2007 the final African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) report on South Africa, again suggested that there was an unacceptably high level of violent crime in the country. President Mbeki said the suggestion of unacceptably high violent crime appeared to be an acceptance by the panel of what he called "a populist view". He challenged some of the statistics on crime, which he noted may have resulted from a weak information base, leading to wrong conclusions. Although rape statistics had been obtained from the South African Police Service, "this only denotes the incidents of rape that were reported, some of which could have resulted in acquittals" Mbeki indicated.

[edit] 2008 riots

In May 2008 a series of riots took place in a number of townships, mainly in the Gauteng Province of South Africa, which left 42 dead, several hundred injured and several thousand displaced.^[39] The root cause of the riot was xenophobic attacks on foreigners, mainly Zimbabweans who had fled their country following the collapse of the Zimbabwean economy. The migrants were blamed for high levels of unemployment, housing shortages and crime.

Following the riots Mbeki was criticised for ignoring the scale of the problem and failing to deal with the causes of it.The Zimbabwe Exiles Group accused him of being "more concerned with appeasing Mr. Mugabe than recognising the scale of the problem caused by the flood of Zimbabweans into South Africa."^[40]

In response to the violence President Mbeki announced he would set up a panel of experts to investigate the riots^[41], and authorized military force against rioters^[42]. This is the first time that such an authorization of military force was used by the government since the end of apartheid^[43].

[edit] Debate with Archbishop Tutu

In 2004 the Archbishop Emeritus of Cape Town, Desmond Tutu, criticised President Mbeki for surrounding himself with "yes-men", not doing enough to improve the position of the poor and for promoting economic policies that only benefited a small black elite. He also accused Mbeki and the ANC of suppressing public debate. Mbeki responded that Tutu had never been an ANC member and defended the debates that took place within ANC branches and other public forums. He also asserted his belief in the value of democratic discussion by quoting the Chinese slogan "let a hundred flowers bloom", referring to the brief Hundred Flowers Campaign within the Chinese Communist Party in 1956-57.

The ANC Today newsletter featured several analyses of the debate, written by Mbeki and the ANC.^[44][45] The latter suggested that Tutu was an "icon" of "white elites", thereby suggesting that his political importance was overblown by the media; and while the article took pains to say that Tutu had not sought this status, it was described in the press as a particularly pointed and personal critique of Tutu. Tutu responded that he would pray for Mbeki as he had prayed for the officials of the apartheid government.^[46]

[edit] Mbeki, Zuma, and succession

Mbeki was praised abroad and by some South Africans, but criticised by many ANC members, over his 2005 firing of Jacob Zuma from his post as Deputy President of South Africa, after Zuma was implicated in a corruption scandal. In October 2005, a few^{[citation needed]} supporters of Zuma (who remained deputy president of the ANC) burned T-shirts portraying Mbeki's picture at a protest, inspiring condemnation from the ANC leadership^{[citation needed]}. In late 2005, Zuma faced new rape charges, which dimmed his political prospects. But his supporters suggested that there was a Mbeki-led political conspiracy against him. There was visible split between Zuma's supporters and Mbeki's allies in the ANC.

Mbeki has been accused of hoping for a change to the Constitution of South Africa which would allow a third term in office, but he and other senior ANC members^[who?] have always denied this. In February 2006, Mbeki told the SABC that he and the ANC have no intention to change the Constitution of the country. He stated, "By the end of 2009, I will have been in a senior position in government for 15 years. I think that's too long."^[17].

Mbeki, although barred by the Constitution of South Africa from seeking a third term as president of the country, in 2007 entered the race to be President of the ANC (no term limit exists for the position of ANC president), for a third term, in a close battle with Jacob Zuma.^[47] He lost this vote against Jacob Zuma on the 18th of December 2007 at the ANC conference in Polokwane.

[edit] Acclaim

[edit] Honorary degrees

Mbeki has received many honorary degrees from South African and foreign universities. Mbeki received an honorary doctorate in business administration from the Arthur D Little Institute, Boston in 1994.^[48] In 1995, he received honorary doctorate from the University of South Africa and an honorary doctorate of laws from Sussex University.^[48] Mbeki was awarded an honorary doctorate from Rand Afrikaans University in 1999.^[49] In 2000 he was awarded an honorary doctorate of laws from Glasgow Caledonian University.^[50] In 2004, he was awarded an honorary doctorate in commercial sciences by the University of Stellenbosch.^[51]

[edit] Orders and decorations

During Mbeki's official visit to Britain in 2001, he was made an honorary Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath (GCB).^[5]The Mayor of Athens, Dora Bakoyannis, awarded Mbeki with the City of Athens Medal of Honour in 2005.^[52] During Mbeki's official visit to Sudan in 2005, he was awarded Sudan's Insignia of Honour in recognition of his role in resolving conflicts and working for development in the Continent.^[53] In 2007, Mbeki was made a Knight of the Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem at St George's Cathedral in Cape Town by the current grand prior, Prince Richard, Duke of Gloucester.^[4]

[edit] Awards

Mbeki was awarded the Good Governance Award in 1997 by the US based Corporate Council on Africa.^[54] In 1999 he was voted the 13th sexiest man alive by the South African chapter of FHM magazine. In 2000, he received the Newsmaker of the year award from Pretoria News Press Association.^[49] In honour of his commitment to democracy in the new South Africa, Mbeki was awarded the Oliver Tambo/ Johnny Makatini Freedom Award in 2000.^[49] Mbeki was awarded the Peace and Reconciliation Award at the Gandhi Awards for Reconciliation in Durban in 2003.^[55] In 2004, Mbeki was awarded the Good Brother Award by Washington's National Congress of Black Women for his commitment to gender equality and the emancipation of women in South Africa.^[56] In 2005, he was also awarded the Champion of the Earth Award by the United Nations.^[57] During the European-wide Action Week Against Racism in 2005, Mbeki was awarded the Rotterdamse Jongeren Raad (RJR) Antidiscrimination Award by the Netherlands.^[58] In 2006 he was awarded the Presidential Award for his outstanding service to economic growth and investor confidence in South Africa and Africa and for his role in the international arena by the South African Chambers of Commerce and Industry.^[59] In 2007 Mbeki was awarded the Confederation of African Football's Order of Merit for his contribution to football on the continent.^[60]

[edit] See also

• List of national leaders
• Ronald Suresh Roberts (biographer)
• Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD-IV), 2008.

[edit] Notes

[edit] Further reading

• Pieter Fourie, "The Political Management of HIV and AIDS in South Africa: One burden too many?" Palgrave Macmillan, 2006, ISBN 0230006671

[edit] External links

• South African Government profile on Thabo Mbeki
• Mbeki: ANC official page His party's collection of Mbeki documents, biography and portrait.
• "Thabo Mbeki - a man of two faces" "The Economist" magazine profiles Mbeki. pay/member link
• The Guardian Profile The Guardian (UK) profiles Mbeki.
• A critical Zimbabwean view. Editorial comment from Zimbabwean website.
• AFP Profile Thabo Mbeki as seen by Agence France-Presse.
• "Today it feels good to be an African" - Thabo Mbeki, Cape Town, 8 May 1996
• No Shacks a project associated with Niall Mellon

Political offices
Preceded by Frederik Willem de Klerk	Deputy President of South Africa 1994 – 1999	Succeeded by Jacob Zuma
Preceded by Nelson Mandela	President of South Africa 1999 – present	Incumbent
Preceded by Levy Mwanawasa	Chairperson of the African Union 2002 – 2003	Succeeded by Joaquim Chissano
Preceded by Nelson Mandela	Secretary General of Non-Aligned Movement 1999 – 2003	Succeeded by Mahathir bin Mohammad

Thabo Mbeki
v • d • e Ministers of the Nelson Mandela Government Frederik Willem de Klerk / Thabo Mbeki (Deputy President) • Derek Hanekom (Agriculture and Land Affairs) • Ben Ngubane (Arts and Culture) • Jay Naidoo (Communications) • Sipo Mzimela (1994-1998) / Ben Skosana (1998-1999) (Correctional Services) • Joe Modise (Defence) • Sibusiso Bengu (Education) • Mohammed Valli Moosa (Environmental Affairs and Tourism) • Derek Keys (1994-1996) / Trevor Manuel (1996-1999) (Finance) • Alfred Nzo (Foreign Affairs) • Nkosazana Zuma (Health) • Mangosuthu Buthelezi (Home Affairs) • Joe Slovo (Housing and Welfare) • Ronnie Kasrils (Intelligence Services) • Dullah Omar (Justice and Constitutional Development) • Membathisi Mphumzi Shepherd Mdladlana (Labour) • Patience Sonjica (Minerals and Energy) • Sydney Mufamadi (Provincial and Local Government)• Stella Sigcau (Public Enterprises) • Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi (Public Service and Administration) • Thoko Didiza (Agriculture and Land Affairs) • Charles Nqakula (Safety and Security) • Mosibudi Mangena (Science and Technology) • Zola Skweyiya (Social Development) • Steve Tshwete (Sport and Recreation) • Gert Johannes Gerwel (The Presidency) • Trevor Manuel (1994-1996) / Alec Erwin (1996-1999) (Trade and Industry) • Mac Maharaj (Transport) • Kader Asmal (Water Affairs and Forestry) • v • d • e      Leaders of the political parties in the Parliament of South Africa Jacob Zuma (African National Congress) · Helen Zille (Democratic Alliance) Patricia de Lille (Independent Democrats) · Mangosuthu Buthelezi (Inkatha Freedom Party) Bantu Holomisa (United Democratic Movement) · Kenneth Meshoe (African Christian Democratic Party) Pieter Mulder (Freedom Front Plus) v • d • e Prime Ministers, Vice State President, and Deputy Presidents of South Africa Prime Ministers Louis Botha · Jan Smuts · James Barry Munnik Hertzog · Jan Smuts · Daniel François Malan · Johannes Gerhardus Strijdom · Hendrik Frensch Verwoerd · B. J. Vorster · Pieter Willem Botha Vice State President Alwyn Schlebusch Deputy Presidents Frederik Willem de Klerk/Thabo Mbeki · Thabo Mbeki · Jacob Zuma · Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka v • d • e Presidents of South Africa 1961–1994 ceremonial Charles Robberts Swart · Jozua François Naudé (acting) · Jacobus Johannes Fouché · Nicolaas Johannes Diederichs · Marais Viljoen (acting) · B. J. Vorster · Marais Viljoen executive Pieter Willem Botha · Frederik Willem de Klerk 1994– Nelson Mandela · Thabo Mbeki v • d • e Chairpersons of the Organization of African Unity and the African Union (AU) Selassie · Nasser · Nkrumah · Ankrah · Selassie · Mobutu · Boumédienne · Ahidjo · Kaunda · Daddah · Hassan II · Gowon · Barre · Amin · Ramgoolam · Bongo · Nimeiry · Tolbert · Senghor · Stevens · Moi · Mengistu · Nyerere · Diouf · Nguesso · Kaunda · Traoré · Mubarak · Museveni · Babangida · Diouf · Mubarak · Ben Ali · Meles · Biya · Mugabe · Compaoré · Bouteflika · Eyadéma · Chiluba · Mwanawasa · Mbeki · Chissano · Obasanjo · Nguesso · Kufuor · Kikwete v • d • e Leaders of the African National Congress Secretary-General S. T. Plaatje (1912 - 1915) • R. V. S. Thema (1915 - 1917) • I. Bud-M'belle (1917 - 1919) • S. Msane (1919 - 1923) • T. D. Mweli-Skota (1923 - 1927) • E. J. Khaile (1927 - 1930) • E. Mdolomba (1930 - 1936) • J. A. Calata (1936 - 1949) • W. M. U. Sisulu (1949 - 1955) • O. R. Tambo (1955 - 1958) • P. P. D. Nokwe (1958 - 1969) • A. B. Nzo (1969 - 1991) • M. C. Ramaphosa (1991 - 1997) • K. Motlanthe (1997 - 2007) • G. Mantashe (2007 - present) President J. L. Dube (1912 - 1917) • S. M. Makgatho (1917 - 1924) • Z. R. Mahabane (1924 - 1927) • J. T. Gumede (1927 - 1930) • P. ka Isaka Seme (1930 - 1936) • Mahabane (1937 - 1940) • Xuma (1940 - 1949) • J. S. Moroka (1949 - 1952) • A. J. Lutuli (1952 - 1967) • O. R. Tambo (1967 - 1991) • N. R. Mandela (1991 - 1997) • T. M. Mbeki (1997 - 2007) • J. G. Zuma (2007-present) Deputy President N. R. Mandela (1952 - 1958) • O. R. Tambo (1958-1985) • N. R. Mandela (1985 - 1991) • W. M. U. Sisulu (1991 - 1994) • T. M. Mbeki (1994 - 1997) • J. G. Zuma (1997 - 2007) • K. Motlanthe (2007 - present) • v • d • e Pan-Africanism Proponents Politicians: Nnamdi Azikiwe · Amílcar Cabral · Muammar al-Gaddafi · Marcus Garvey · David Comissiong · Kenneth Kaunda · Jomo Kenyatta · Patrice Lumumba · Thabo Mbeki · Abdias do Nascimento · Kwame Nkrumah · Julius Nyerere · John Nyathi Pokela · Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia · Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe · Ahmed Sékou Touré · I.T.A. Wallace-Johnson · Others: Molefi Kete Asante · Steve Biko · Francis Ohanyido · Edward Wilmot Blyden · Cheikh Anta Diop · W. E. B. Du Bois · Frantz Fanon · Yosef Ben-Jochannan · Sankofa Juba · Maulana Karenga · Akwatu Khenti · Bob Marley · Malcolm X · Zephania Mothopeng · George Padmore · Dr Motsoko Pheko · Runoko Rashidi · Walter Rodney · Burning Spear · Henry Sylvester-Williams · Kwame Ture (Stokely Carmichael) · Omali Yeshitela Concepts United States of Africa · Afrocentrism · Kwanzaa · Pan-African colours · Pan-African flag · Négritude · African nationalism · African socialism · African Century · Africanization · Kawaida  · Ujamaa  · Harambee  · Ubuntu  · Zikism Organizations African Union (OAU) · AAPRP · Uhuru Movement · UNIA-ACL · African Unification Front · African diaspora

Persondata
NAME	Mbeki, Thabo Mvuyelwa
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION	current president of South Africa
DATE OF BIRTH	18 June 1942
PLACE OF BIRTH	Transkei, South Africa
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH