Thabo Mbeki
Thabo Mvuyelwa Mbeki (born 18 June 1942) is a South African politician who served as President of South Africa from 1999[4] to 24 September 2008. On 20 September 2008, he had announced that he would resign after a call by the African National Congress’ National Executive Committee.
Early life
Born and raised in Idutywa (Transkei), what is now the Eastern Cape province of South Africa, Mbeki is one of four children 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.
Mbeki attended primary school in Idutywa and Butterworth and acquired high school education at Lovedale, Alice. In 1959, he was expelled from school as a result of student strikes and forced to continue studies at home. In the same year, he sat for matriculation examinations at St. John’s High School, Umata. In the ensuing years, he completed British “A” levels examinations and undertook economics degree as an external student with the University of London. During this time, ANC was banned and Mbeki was involved in underground activities in the Pretoria-Witwatersrand area. He was also involved in mobilising students in support of ANC call for a stay at home in protest against the creation of a republic.
In December 1961, he was elected secretary of the African Students Association. In the following year, he left Africa on instructions of the ANC.
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.
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 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.
In 1973, he was sent to Botswana. He engaged the Botswana government in discussions to open an ANC office there. He left Botswana in 1974.
In 1975, he became a member of the National Executive Committee of the ANC. In December 1976, he was sent to Nigeria as a representative of the ANC.
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.”
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, tying 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.
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 16 June); he was subsequently reelected for a second term in April 2004.
Mbeki formally announced his resignation on 21 September, 2008, at 19:30 South African time (17:30 UTC), as a result of the ANC National Executive Committee’s decision to no longer support him in parliament. This came a few days after the dismissal of a trial against ANC President Jacob Zuma on charges of corruption due to procedural errors, where in the ruling, inferences were made to possible political interference by Mbeki and others in his prosecution. Parliament convened on 22 September and accepted the resignation with effect from 25 September, however because an MP for the Freedom Front opposition party declared his objection to the resignation, a debate is set to take place the next day.
In cases of such a void in the presidency, the constitution regulates the replacement to serve as the interim president: either the deputy president, the speaker of parliament, or any MP (Member of Parliament) as chosen by parliament can take the role of president of the country until the next election. ANC president Jacob Zuma who is likely to be elected president in the next general election is not eligible as he is currently none of these. The current deputy president Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka is not likely to be chosen apparently due to her close ties to Mbeki and because her husband, Bulelani Ngcuka was involved in the decision to charge Zuma with corruption. As a result the Speaker of Parliament, Baleka Mbete, had been cited as the likely caretaker president , however, Zuma speaking on behalf of the ANC, strongly hinted at ANC Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe, who is an MP, as being Mbeki’s replacement for the remainder of the current term of parliament, which will end in early 2009. However, although Zuma can put pressure on the government and his party to choose Motlanthe, the replacement president has to be decided by parliament.
The deputy president, Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, Minister in the Presidency, Essop Pahad and Minister of Science and Technology Mosibudi Mangena have all announced their intentions of resigning.
Nathi Mthethwa, Chief Whip of the ruling African National Congress (ANC) stated Mbeki’s resignation takes effect on 25 September 2008. ANC President Jacob Zuma said that his deputy, Kgalema Motlanthe, would become acting president until 2009 general elections: “I am convinced – if given that responsibility – he (Motlanthe) would be equal to the task. The African National Congress confirmed that “Kgalema Motlanthe is to become caretaker president until 2009 elections, with Baleka Mbete being appointed deputy president .
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