Epainette Mbeki (née Moerane) (born February 16, 1916),[1] commonly known as "MaMbeki", is the mother of former South African president Thabo Mbeki and widow of political activist Govan Mbeki. She lives in Ngcingwane, a rural hamlet near Dutywa, one of South Africa's poorest municipalities. She is highly respected there both for her auspicious relatives and, more importantly to her,[2] her endeavours to improve the residents' quality of life. Gillian Rennie, in an award-winning profile, quoted a co-worker as saying, "She is not like other retired people, getting a pension and saying, 'Let me play golf and fish a bit.' The old lady is a humble person."[2]
Born Nomaka Epainette Moerane, at Mount Fletcher in the Drakensberg, she grew up in humble environs, the sixth of seven children. Early every morning before school, she would chase birds from her father's sorghum fields before returning after school for further bird-chasing. She cites this as the reason for the industrious aptitude that she retains into her nineties, an aptitude that she wishes others would share.
Mbeki is the brains behind the Khanyisa beadwork project, which has sustained the art of traditional African beadwork and provided livelihoods for 24 Ngcingwanean women. She is a prominent force in the Linda Mbeki Hospice, which operates from the former Mbeki home in Mbewuleni, and was founded to commemorate the life of her daughter, who died in 2005. Mbeki also established the Nomaka Mbeki Technical Senior Secondary School and owns the Goodwill Trading Store, whose cash-counting and bookkeeping she does herself.
Her son, Thabo, attributes much of his political success to the wisdom of his mother, but she disagrees: "I wouldn't call it wisdom; it's an attitude, the attitude of self-last. He should forget about the ego and listen to the next man. That's really what he must do. I think he has managed; I think he has managed."[2]
Mbeki takes great pride in her accolades, among which are the Community Builder of the Year award (for which she had to go "all the way to Johannesburg"), a NAFCOC founder member award, a Transkei chamber stalwart award, the King Cetshwayo African Image Award and the Eastern Cape arts and culture award for Khanyisa, given her by Arnold Stofile.[2]
Sotho-speaking and traditionalist, Mbeki places great importance education. Although it has been suggested, not least by Stofile (to whom Mbeki gave her religion), that she venture into politics, she has never been especially enamoured with the idea. "I wouldn't do as a member of parliament. You have to live with the people; you have to move among the people, to know their conditions [...]. Premier Makhenkesi says, 'I think you should belong to my government.' I say, 'No, that's not proper because, when I get there, I'll be as dull as you people. I'll be just as dull.'"[2]