Thabo Mvuyelwa Mbeki (; born 18 June 1942) is a South African politician who served as the second president of South Africa from 16 June 1999 to 24 September 2008.
In 1959, he was expelled from school as a result of student strikes and forced to continue his studies at home.
Mbeki was intensely critical of the New Left revision of Marxism that swept Europe in the latter half of the 1960s and remained ardently loyal to the Soviet Union, which at the time heavily sponsored the ANC's underground movement, providing them with financial and educational support, as well as arms and military training.
He was the first black South African to obtain a distinction in economics. In December 1961, Mbeki was elected secretary of the African Students' Association.
In 1962, Mbeki and a group of comrades left South Africa disguised as a football team.
To hold the prisoners, the General Laws Amendment Act, Number 37 of 1963, was rushed through Parliament and applied retrospectively to 27 June 1962, mainly but not exclusively so that the people arrested at Rivonia could be detained and held in solitary confinement.
In 1962, aged 19, he arrived at the brand-new University of Sussex, earning first a BA degree in economics, and then remaining to complete a Master's degree in African studies.
In February 1963, three months after his arrival at the University, Mbeki was elected onto the Student Union Committee.
By April, he was one of 28 signatories petitioning in support of "Spies for Peace", a document that revealed secret information about Britain's plans for civil defence and government in the event of a nuclear attack. On 11 July 1963, the High Command of the ANC was caught at Lilliesleaf Farm in Rivonia, one of them being Govan Mbeki.
To hold the prisoners, the General Laws Amendment Act, Number 37 of 1963, was rushed through Parliament and applied retrospectively to 27 June 1962, mainly but not exclusively so that the people arrested at Rivonia could be detained and held in solitary confinement.
In April 1964, Mbeki appeared before a delegation of the United Nations Special Committee against Apartheid to plead for the life of his father, who by then had been charged with planning an armed uprising against the state.
On 13 June 1964, Mbeki organised a march from Brighton to London, after the Rivonia Trialists were found guilty of high treason.
Mbeki completed his bachelor's degree in economics at Sussex University in May 1965.
In October 1965, Mbeki returned to Sussex for one year to do his Masters in Economics and Development.
On 18 May 1966, Mbeki organised a 24-hour vigil at the Clock Tower in Brighton's central square against Ian Smith's Unilateral Declaration of Independence in Rhodesia.
In October 1966 Mbeki moved to London to work for the ANC full-time.
Zanele had just moved to London at this time. In 1966, Mbeki appealed to Oliver Tambo to allow any South African student who supported the ANC to be admitted into the movement's Youth and Students Section (YSS), irrespective of race.
On 17 March 1968, Mbeki, took part in a massive anti-Vietnam demonstration outside the American embassy in London's Grosvenor Square and had his upper right molar tooth cracked when he was attacked by a policeman.
Mbeki completed his Master's degree at Sussex University in May 1968. ===Moscow=== Mbeki was finally given permission to undergo a year of military training at the Lenin International School in Moscow.
He arrived in Moscow in February 1969 and became a student at the Lenin Institute, which was established exclusively for communists, the exception being non-communist members of liberation movements who could get ideological training at the Institute.
In June 1969, Mbeki was chosen to be secretary of a high-level SACP delegation to the International Conference of Communist and Workers Parties in Moscow.
In June 1970, Mbeki was secretly shuttled from his military camp north-west of Moscow to the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) guest house in Volynskoye, where the South African Communist Party's (SACP's) Central Committee was holding its meeting.
In the late 1970s, Mbeki made a number of trips to the United States in search of support among US corporations.
Throughout Mbeki's training, he kept in constant contact with Zanele. ===Lusaka and Botswana=== Together with Oliver Tambo, Mbeki left London for Lusaka in April 1971 to take up the position of assistant secretary of the ANC's Revolutionary Council (RC).
This was a turning point in Mbeki's life as it was the first time he spoke on behalf of the ANC as opposed to the ANC Youth League. In December 1972, Mbeki joined Tambo at Heathrow Airport to meet Mangosuthu Buthelezi to discuss mass resistance to apartheid.
Mbeki was deployed to Botswana in 1973 to facilitate the development of an internal underground. Mbeki's life took a significant turn on 23 November 1974 when he married Zanele Dlamini.
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, Mbeki was sent to Botswana, where he engaged the Botswana government in discussions to open an ANC office there.
Monwabise Kwanda disappeared in 1981 with Thabo's youngest brother Jama. On 23 November 1974, Mbeki married Zanele (née Dlamini) at Farnham Castle in the United Kingdom.
Mbeki was deployed to Botswana in 1973 to facilitate the development of an internal underground. Mbeki's life took a significant turn on 23 November 1974 when he married Zanele Dlamini.
He left Botswana in 1974.
The wedding, according to ANC rules, had to be approved by the organisation – a rule that applied to all permanently deployed members of the ANC. ===Swaziland and Nigeria=== In January 1975, just a few months after his marriage to Zanele, Mbeki was sent to Swaziland to assess the possibility of setting up an ANC frontline base in the country.
In 1975, he became a member of the National Executive Committee of the ANC.
Ironically, while Mbeki was converting BC adherents into ANC members, he would himself absorb many aspects of BC ideology. In March 1976, Mbeki, Albert Dhlomo and Jacob Zuma were arrested in Swaziland, but the trio managed to escape deportation to South Africa.
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 killed by agents of the Lesotho government in 1982 while attempting to assist the Lesotho Liberation Army.
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.
From there, Mbeki went back to Lusaka for a few months before being posted to Nigeria in January 1977.
Zanele, who was running the Africa offices of the International University Education Fund in Lusaka, spent much of 1977 with her husband in Nigeria. In 1978, Mbeki became political secretary in the office of Oliver Tambo.
Zanele, who was running the Africa offices of the International University Education Fund in Lusaka, spent much of 1977 with her husband in Nigeria. In 1978, Mbeki became political secretary in the office of Oliver Tambo.
On 11 August 1980, Tambo and Mbeki met with Mugabe and his advisor, Emmerson Mnangagwa, in Salisbury.
During the 1980s, Mbeki became a leading figure in the SACP, rising to the party's central committee by the mid-1980s.
He was known for his diplomatic style and sophistication. In the early 1980s, Mbeki, Jacob Zuma and Aziz Pahad were appointed by Tambo to conduct private talks with representatives of the National Party government.
Monwabise Kwanda disappeared in 1981 with Thabo's youngest brother Jama. On 23 November 1974, Mbeki married Zanele (née Dlamini) at Farnham Castle in the United Kingdom.
In July 1981 Joe Gqabi, the ANC representative in Zimbabwe, was assassinated at his home.
The SACP was a vital part of the ANC alliance. In February 1982, Mbeki's brother Jama disappeared.
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 killed by agents of the Lesotho government in 1982 while attempting to assist the Lesotho Liberation Army.
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.
In 1985, PW Botha declared a State of Emergency and gave the army and police special powers.
The plan was to put a bomb in his house in Lusaka, but the assassin was arrested by the Zambian police before he could go through with the plan. In 1985, Mbeki became the ANC's director of the Department of Information and Publicity and coordinated diplomatic campaigns to involve more white South Africans in anti-apartheid activities.
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.
In 1986, the South African Army sent a captain in the South African Defence Force (SADF) to kill Mbeki.
Twelve meetings between the parties took place between November 1987 and May 1990, most of them held at Mells Park House, a country house near Bath in Somerset, England.
In 1989, he rose in the ranks to head the ANC's Department of International Affairs and was involved in the ANC's negotiations with the South African government. Mbeki played a major role in turning the international media against apartheid.
By September 1989, the team secretly met with Maritz Spaarwater and Mike Louw in a hotel in Switzerland.
At the same time, Mandela and Kobie Coetzee, the Minister of Justice, were also holding secret talks. In 1989, Botha suffered a stroke and was replaced by FW De Klerk, who announced on 2 February 1990 that the ANC, SACP, PAC and other liberation movements were to be unbanned.
As a sign of goodwill, De Klerk set free a few of the ANC's top leadership at the end of 1989, among them Govan Mbeki. Between 1990 and 1994, the ANC began preparing for the first democratic elections.
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.
Twelve meetings between the parties took place between November 1987 and May 1990, most of them held at Mells Park House, a country house near Bath in Somerset, England.
At the same time, Mandela and Kobie Coetzee, the Minister of Justice, were also holding secret talks. In 1989, Botha suffered a stroke and was replaced by FW De Klerk, who announced on 2 February 1990 that the ANC, SACP, PAC and other liberation movements were to be unbanned.
As a sign of goodwill, De Klerk set free a few of the ANC's top leadership at the end of 1989, among them Govan Mbeki. Between 1990 and 1994, the ANC began preparing for the first democratic elections.
In 1991, the ANC was able to hold its first legal conference in the country after 30 years of being banned.
When Chris Hani was assassinated in 1993, Mbeki and Ramaphosa were left to contest the position of Deputy President. After leaving the Eastern Cape, Thabo Mbeki lived in Johannesburg, working with Walter Sisulu.
As a sign of goodwill, De Klerk set free a few of the ANC's top leadership at the end of 1989, among them Govan Mbeki. Between 1990 and 1994, the ANC began preparing for the first democratic elections.
He also participated in many of the other important negotiations 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 also participated in many of the other important negotiations 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 South Africa in June 1999; he was re-elected for a second term in April 2004. ==Role in African politics== Mbeki has been a powerful figure in African politics, positioning South Africa as a regional power broker and promoting the idea that African political conflicts should be solved by Africans.
Thabo Mvuyelwa Mbeki (; born 18 June 1942) is a South African politician who served as the second president of South Africa from 16 June 1999 to 24 September 2008.
He succeeded Nelson Mandela as ANC president in December 1997 and as President of South Africa in June 1999; he was re-elected for a second term in April 2004. ==Role in African politics== Mbeki has been a powerful figure in African politics, positioning South Africa as a regional power broker and promoting the idea that African political conflicts should be solved by Africans.
Zimbabwe's [since 2000 was a matter of increasing concern to Britain (as the former colonial power) and other donors to that country.
He succeeded Nelson Mandela as ANC president in December 1997 and as President of South Africa in June 1999; he was re-elected for a second term in April 2004. ==Role in African politics== Mbeki has been a powerful figure in African politics, positioning South Africa as a regional power broker and promoting the idea that African political conflicts should be solved by Africans.
He sees African dependence on aid and foreign intervention as a major barrier, 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. Mbeki has sometimes been characterised as remote and academic, although in his second campaign for the Presidency in 2004, many observers described him as finally relaxing into more traditional ways of campaigning, sometimes dancing at events and even kissing babies.
Thabo Mvuyelwa Mbeki (; born 18 June 1942) is a South African politician who served as the second president of South Africa from 16 June 1999 to 24 September 2008.
On 20 September 2008, with about nine months left in his second term, Mbeki announced his resignation after being recalled by the National Executive Committee of the ANC, following a conclusion by judge C.
On 12 January 2009, the Supreme Court of Appeal unanimously overturned judge Nicholson's judgement but the resignation stood. During his tenure in office, the South African economy grew at an average rate of 4.5% per year, creating employment in the middle sectors of the economy.
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