Today is former president Thabo Mbeki's 73rd birthday. To celebrate, we look back at some fascinating (and often personal) quotes from the man, quotes that are not from his incredible I Am an African speech.
Not all of the quotes show Mbeki in a shining light. After all, his presidency had some dark moments (HIV/Aids) which shouldn't be glossed over just because of the current state of the country. We love Mbeki, but we also should not romanticise him because we're now in the Zuma era.
1. On joining the liberation struggle:
"Both the family circumstances of my upbringing and the fact of apartheid oppression which impacted in us as young people made it inevitable that like others of my generation, I would have to be involved not in politics, but in the liberation struggle."
2. On his diverse music taste:
"I would like to believe that I do not suffer from any prejudice about the musical form, as a result of which I would come to the conclusion, both spiritually and intellectually, to close my ears to one expression of music as opposed to any other."
3. On the change in South African society after he returned from exile:
"It seemed clear that the personal acquisition of material wealth had become the accepted standard in terms of which one would be judged by society as a successful citizen, and therefore a role model."
4. On writing his I am an African speech:
"It seemed clear to me that the unique occasion of the adoption of the Constitution demanded a unique address which, among other things, would affirm the statement that South Africa belongs to all who live in it, confirm that as a nation we had agreed to live according to a particular value system, and make the unequivocal statement that we are part of the African Continent and not a European outpost."
5. On the future of South Africa:
"I am certain that South Africa will not succeed in its efforts to rebuild, reconstruct and develop herself if she does not inspire all our people, black and white, to accept that they share an equal and shared responsibility and opportunity to work together to ensure a happy future for all."
6. On the role of the country's youth:
"I think our youth should understand the serious reality it faces that it will inherit the country. It will therefore have the enormously challenging responsibility to answer the question practically – what will it do with this inheritance?"
*Source: Sunday Times interview, 2013
7. On why the South African public know so little about him:
"I suppose it is because there is really nothing to know."
Pic. by Sydney Seshibedi. Pic. by Sydney Seshibedi.
8. On being the child of anti-apartheid activists:
"We knew it, at least I did, when we were young, that the parents knew that we were in the middle of a difficult struggle, that they would be separated from us, they would go to jail. So we needed to grow up knowing that we would grow up without them. We needed to get accustomed to surviving on our own."
9. On losing his brother and son during apartheid:
"It would have been very good to have my youngest brother and my son present here because they were both very talented people. They are gone, but so are many thousands of other young people gone because they became victims of that particular process. It is not a matter that we dwell on in any way."
10. On the importance of education:
"The way we grow up and the way we are brought up, both in the ANC, in the struggle generally, at school, at university, it has always been a critical matter that the true measure of intellectual competence is to handle a challenge to establish knowledge. That is what I do everyday. I question myself on what I think I know, and I say: what I think I know - is it correct?"
11. On ARVs:
"I would think that it would be a criminal dereliction of duty if our government did not say, how do we cope with the issue of the toxicity of these drugs...? They say the levels of the toxicity of these drugs are such that we have got to introduce these drugs later in the incidence of the disease because of this toxicity. They even say that there are even other unknown toxicities. So do I go down the street dispersing these pills knowing from the best science that there are consequences that our health scientists do not know enough? Please stop politicising this question; let us deal with the science of it."
12. On Zimbabwe:
"The objective we seek to achieve in Zimbabwe is to assist in the resolution of this whole complex of problems that Zimbabwe faces. Secondly, we would seek a result that Zimbabwe does not collapse, because if Zimbabwe collapses we carry the consequence of that immediately, the only country in the world that will. We do not want that. It is not good for the Zimbabweans; it is not good for us."
13. On his relationship with the SA media:
"All of us need to work seriously at increasing the level of professionalism within journalism, such that any journalist should be inspired by a sense of professional pride. So that in sustaining the pride in the profession there are certain things you do not do...
Thabo Mbeki, chair
I think that what we need to correct here is not the views of journalists about the government, the ANC, or Thabo Mbeki or anybody. It is just the professional competence that will actually empower them to criticise the President better."
14. On the judiciary:
"The judiciary is faced with the challenge of this changing society as much as all of us are faced with that challenge."
15. On the nature of criticism:
"People make critical comments and when we respond to the comment, to say we disagree, this is what we think. And then we get this response that this government is too sensitive to criticism. So what is being suggested is that we must be criticised and keep quiet and then we are well-behaved. We are not going to do that. Let all of us as South Africans engage in vigorous criticism and counter criticism as much as possible, but nobody should feel intimidated that because the minister is responding to critical comments therefore it translates to something else."
*Source: e.tv interview, 2001
16. On President Zuma being booed at Nelson Mandela's memorial:
"I thought it was a reflection of political tension within the ANC. It is an ANC matter. It did not belong to an occasion of such a nature. Maybe the ANC members thought it was an appropriate time to express their frustration [with Zuma's leadership].
I don't think the incident will damage the image of the country because heads of state are politicians. I would imagine that they would understand that; even in their own countries, they might face similar situations. I am sure that they understood it was not a statement about Nelson Mandela or the occasion."
*Source: M&G, 2013
17. On the ICC:
"You can imagine what would have happened in our case, in South Africa, if the International Criminal Court was there in 1994, and somebody said arrest de Klerk and take him to The Hague. We would have refused. We would have said no, because [we knew] what you need to do is to end apartheid, and we need President de Klerk here to lead the white population into the democratic settlement.
"We would never have agreed that justice must trump this - even though we agreed that apartheid was a crime against humanity. Sure it was a crime against humanity, but we can deal with this matter of justice differently. This is the principal challenge that faces us."
*Source: Al-Jazeera, 2013
18. On the current state of South Africa:
"I am convinced that it would be treacherous to hide our heads in the sand and behave as though we remain on course in terms of the achievement of our shared and various national objectives."
19. On the current ANC government:
"I must accept that during the years when I served in the leadership of the ANC, we failed to achieve the objective of sustaining the calibre of a membership made up of politically mature and committed cadres.
"This would have made it, as much as it was possible, to insulate our movement from the 'staff-riders' who came on board the ANC train, intent to use their membership as a step-ladder to access state power and abuse this power for self-enrichment.
The real and hard truth is that, in this regard, the current leadership of the ANC and the broad democratic movement, at all levels, have inherited this failure, which lies at the base of much that is going wrong in our country."
Source: Oliver Tambo tribute lecture, 2012
19 Thabo Mbeki quotes on the ANC, growing up during apartheid and who he is behind the name
Today is former president Thabo Mbeki's 73rd birthday. To celebrate, we look back at some fascinating (and often personal) quotes from the man, quotes that are not from his incredible I Am an African speech.
Not all of the quotes show Mbeki in a shining light. After all, his presidency had some dark moments (HIV/Aids) which shouldn't be glossed over just because of the current state of the country. We love Mbeki, but we also should not romanticise him because we're now in the Zuma era.
1. On joining the liberation struggle:
"Both the family circumstances of my upbringing and the fact of apartheid oppression which impacted in us as young people made it inevitable that like others of my generation, I would have to be involved not in politics, but in the liberation struggle."
2. On his diverse music taste:
"I would like to believe that I do not suffer from any prejudice about the musical form, as a result of which I would come to the conclusion, both spiritually and intellectually, to close my ears to one expression of music as opposed to any other."
3. On the change in South African society after he returned from exile:
"It seemed clear that the personal acquisition of material wealth had become the accepted standard in terms of which one would be judged by society as a successful citizen, and therefore a role model."
4. On writing his I am an African speech:
"It seemed clear to me that the unique occasion of the adoption of the Constitution demanded a unique address which, among other things, would affirm the statement that South Africa belongs to all who live in it, confirm that as a nation we had agreed to live according to a particular value system, and make the unequivocal statement that we are part of the African Continent and not a European outpost."
5. On the future of South Africa:
"I am certain that South Africa will not succeed in its efforts to rebuild, reconstruct and develop herself if she does not inspire all our people, black and white, to accept that they share an equal and shared responsibility and opportunity to work together to ensure a happy future for all."
6. On the role of the country's youth:
"I think our youth should understand the serious reality it faces that it will inherit the country. It will therefore have the enormously challenging responsibility to answer the question practically – what will it do with this inheritance?"
*Source: Sunday Times interview, 2013
7. On why the South African public know so little about him:
"I suppose it is because there is really nothing to know."
8. On being the child of anti-apartheid activists:
"We knew it, at least I did, when we were young, that the parents knew that we were in the middle of a difficult struggle, that they would be separated from us, they would go to jail. So we needed to grow up knowing that we would grow up without them. We needed to get accustomed to surviving on our own."
9. On losing his brother and son during apartheid:
"It would have been very good to have my youngest brother and my son present here because they were both very talented people. They are gone, but so are many thousands of other young people gone because they became victims of that particular process. It is not a matter that we dwell on in any way."
10. On the importance of education:
"The way we grow up and the way we are brought up, both in the ANC, in the struggle generally, at school, at university, it has always been a critical matter that the true measure of intellectual competence is to handle a challenge to establish knowledge. That is what I do everyday. I question myself on what I think I know, and I say: what I think I know - is it correct?"
11. On ARVs:
"I would think that it would be a criminal dereliction of duty if our government did not say, how do we cope with the issue of the toxicity of these drugs...? They say the levels of the toxicity of these drugs are such that we have got to introduce these drugs later in the incidence of the disease because of this toxicity. They even say that there are even other unknown toxicities. So do I go down the street dispersing these pills knowing from the best science that there are consequences that our health scientists do not know enough? Please stop politicising this question; let us deal with the science of it."
12. On Zimbabwe:
"The objective we seek to achieve in Zimbabwe is to assist in the resolution of this whole complex of problems that Zimbabwe faces. Secondly, we would seek a result that Zimbabwe does not collapse, because if Zimbabwe collapses we carry the consequence of that immediately, the only country in the world that will. We do not want that. It is not good for the Zimbabweans; it is not good for us."
13. On his relationship with the SA media:
"All of us need to work seriously at increasing the level of professionalism within journalism, such that any journalist should be inspired by a sense of professional pride. So that in sustaining the pride in the profession there are certain things you do not do...
I think that what we need to correct here is not the views of journalists about the government, the ANC, or Thabo Mbeki or anybody. It is just the professional competence that will actually empower them to criticise the President better."
14. On the judiciary:
"The judiciary is faced with the challenge of this changing society as much as all of us are faced with that challenge."
15. On the nature of criticism:
"People make critical comments and when we respond to the comment, to say we disagree, this is what we think. And then we get this response that this government is too sensitive to criticism. So what is being suggested is that we must be criticised and keep quiet and then we are well-behaved. We are not going to do that. Let all of us as South Africans engage in vigorous criticism and counter criticism as much as possible, but nobody should feel intimidated that because the minister is responding to critical comments therefore it translates to something else."
*Source: e.tv interview, 2001
16. On President Zuma being booed at Nelson Mandela's memorial:
"I thought it was a reflection of political tension within the ANC. It is an ANC matter. It did not belong to an occasion of such a nature. Maybe the ANC members thought it was an appropriate time to express their frustration [with Zuma's leadership].
I don't think the incident will damage the image of the country because heads of state are politicians. I would imagine that they would understand that; even in their own countries, they might face similar situations. I am sure that they understood it was not a statement about Nelson Mandela or the occasion."
*Source: M&G, 2013
17. On the ICC:
"You can imagine what would have happened in our case, in South Africa, if the International Criminal Court was there in 1994, and somebody said arrest de Klerk and take him to The Hague. We would have refused. We would have said no, because [we knew] what you need to do is to end apartheid, and we need President de Klerk here to lead the white population into the democratic settlement.
"We would never have agreed that justice must trump this - even though we agreed that apartheid was a crime against humanity. Sure it was a crime against humanity, but we can deal with this matter of justice differently. This is the principal challenge that faces us."
*Source: Al-Jazeera, 2013
18. On the current state of South Africa:
"I am convinced that it would be treacherous to hide our heads in the sand and behave as though we remain on course in terms of the achievement of our shared and various national objectives."
19. On the current ANC government:
"I must accept that during the years when I served in the leadership of the ANC, we failed to achieve the objective of sustaining the calibre of a membership made up of politically mature and committed cadres.
"This would have made it, as much as it was possible, to insulate our movement from the 'staff-riders' who came on board the ANC train, intent to use their membership as a step-ladder to access state power and abuse this power for self-enrichment.
The real and hard truth is that, in this regard, the current leadership of the ANC and the broad democratic movement, at all levels, have inherited this failure, which lies at the base of much that is going wrong in our country."
Source: Oliver Tambo tribute lecture, 2012
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