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185-472: Thabo Mvuyelwa Mbeki ( Xhosa: [tʰaɓɔ ʼmbɛːki] ; born 18 June 1942) is a South African politician who served as the 2nd democratic president of South Africa from 14 June 1999 to 24 September 2008, when he resigned at the request of his party, the African National Congress (ANC). Before that, he was deputy president under Nelson Mandela from 1994 to 1999. The son of Govan Mbeki ,
370-799: A Marxist-Leninist , speaking warmly of Marxist-Leninist revolutionaries like Vladimir Lenin , Joseph Stalin , and Fidel Castro . Despite his Marxist views, Mugabe's meetings with Soviet representatives were unproductive, for they insisted on Nkomo's leadership of the revolutionary struggle. His relationship with the People's Republic of China was far warmer, as the Chinese Maoist government supplied ZANLA with armaments without any conditions. He also sought support from Western nations, visiting Western embassies in Mozambique, and travelled to both Western states like Italy and Switzerland and Marxist-governed states like
555-793: A Marxist–Leninist , and as a socialist during the 1990s and the remainder of his career. Mugabe was born to a poor Shona family in Kutama , Southern Rhodesia . Educated at Kutama College and the University of Fort Hare in South Africa, he then worked as a schoolteacher in Southern Rhodesia, Northern Rhodesia , and Ghana. Angered by white minority rule of his homeland within the British Empire , Mugabe embraced Marxism and joined African nationalists calling for an independent state controlled by
740-677: A "crisis" in Zimbabwe – the MDC and ZANU-PF entered into negotiations towards the formation of a power-sharing government, with talks beginning in July 2008. Mbeki mediated the negotiations and brokered the resulting power-sharing agreement, signed on 15 September 2008, which retained Mugabe as president but diluted his executive power across posts to be held by opposition leaders. According to political scientist Jeffrey Herbst , Mbeki's HIV/AIDS policies were "bizarre at best, severely negligent at worst." In 2000, amid
925-585: A "frontline" country because of its shared border with South Africa, where the ANC was attempting to re-establish its underground. However, although he travelled frequently in subsequent years, the ANC's Lusaka headquarters remained his central base. Between 1975 and 1976, Mbeki was instrumental in establishing the ANC's frontline base in Swaziland. He was first sent there to assess the political landscape in January 1975, under
1110-478: A 1978 radio address, Mugabe declared: "Let us hammer [the white man] to defeat. Let us blow up his citadel. Let us give him no time to rest. Let us chase him in every corner. Let us rid our home of this settler vermin". For Mugabe, armed struggle was an essential part of the establishment of a new state. In contrast to other black nationalist leaders like Nkomo, Mugabe opposed a negotiated settlement with Smith's government. In October 1976 ZANU nevertheless established
1295-497: A Bachelor of Arts degree in history and English literature. In later years he described his time at Fort Hare as the "turning point" in his life. Mugabe returned to Southern Rhodesia in 1952, by which time—he later related— he was "completely hostile to the [colonialist] system". Here, his first job was as a teacher at the Driefontein Roman Catholic Mission School near Umvuma . In 1953 he relocated to
1480-654: A Roman Catholic ceremony conducted in Salisbury; she had converted to Catholicism to make this possible. The British government held a Salisbury conference in 1961 to determine Southern Rhodesia's future. Nkomo led an NDP delegation, which hoped that the British would support the creation of an independent state governed by the black majority. Representatives of the country's white minority—who then controlled Southern Rhodesia's government—were opposed to this, promoting continued white minority rule. Following negotiations, Nkomo agreed to
1665-524: A South African observer mission endorsed the result of the Zimbabwean presidential election of 2002 , in which Mugabe was re-elected, Zimbabwean opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai accused Mbeki of being a "dishonest broker" and his government of becoming "part of the Zimbabwe problem because its actions are worsening the crisis." Commentators later said that Mbeki's soft stance on Mugabe during this period permanently damaged relations between South Africa and
1850-811: A State of Emergency and gave the army and police special powers. In 1986, the South African Army sent a captain in the South African Defence Force (SADF) to kill Mbeki. 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. In 1989, he rose in
2035-570: A base for their military operations. To protest apartheid and white minority rule in South Africa, Mugabe's government banned Zimbabwe from engaging South Africa in any sporting competitions. In turn, South Africa tried to destabilise Zimbabwe by blocking trade routes into the country and supporting anti-Mugabe militants among the country's white minority. In December 1981, a bomb struck ZANU–PF headquarters, killing seven and injuring 124. Mugabe blamed South African-backed white militants. He criticised "reactionary and counter-revolutionary elements" in
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#17331063312222220-481: A budget deficit year-on-year that averaged at 10% of the country's gross domestic product. Under Mugabe's leadership, there was a massive expansion in education and health spending. In 1980, Zimbabwe had just 177 secondary schools, by 2000 this number had risen to 1,548. During that period, the adult literacy rate rose from 62% to 82%, one of the highest levels in Africa. Levels of child immunization were raised from 25% of
2405-523: A burgeoning HIV/AIDS epidemic in South Africa, Mbeki's government launched the HIV/AIDS/ STD Strategic Plan for South Africa, 2000–2005 , a "multi-sectoral" plan which was criticised by HIV/AIDS activists for lacking concrete timeframes and failing to commit to antiretroviral treatment programmes. Indeed, according to economist Nicoli Nattrass , resistance to the roll-out of antiretroviral drugs for prevention and treatment became central to
2590-418: A capitalist framework and emphasizing the need for foreign investment. In office, Mugabe sought a gradual transformation away from capitalism and tried to build upon existing state institutions. From 1980 to 1990, the country's economy grew by an average of 2.7% a year, but this was outstripped by population growth and real income declined. The unemployment rate rose, reaching 26% in 1990. The government ran
2775-666: A correct justification that just because the whites oppressed us yesterday when they had power, the blacks must oppress them today because they have power. An evil remains an evil whether practised by white against black or black against white. Mugabe initially emphasized racial reconciliation and he was keen to build a good relationship with white Zimbabweans. He hoped to avoid a white exodus and tried to allay fears that he would nationalize white-owned property. He appointed two white ministers— David Smith and Denis Norman —to his government, met with white leaders in agriculture, industry, mining, and commerce, and impressed senior figures in
2960-622: A coup , replacing him with former vice president Emmerson Mnangagwa . Having dominated Zimbabwe's politics for nearly four decades, Mugabe was a controversial figure. He was praised as a revolutionary hero of the African liberation struggle who helped free Zimbabwe from British colonialism , imperialism , and white minority rule. Critics accused Mugabe of being a dictator responsible for economic mismanagement and widespread corruption and human rights abuses , including anti-white racism , crimes against humanity , and genocide. Robert Gabriel Mugabe
3145-587: A devout Catholic. Mugabe excelled at school, where he was a secretive and solitary child, preferring to read, rather than playing sports or socialising with other children. He was taunted by many of the other children, who regarded him as a coward and a mother's boy . In about 1930 Gabriel had an argument with one of the Jesuits, and as a result the Mugabe family was expelled from the mission village by its French leader, Father Jean-Baptiste Loubière. The family settled in
3330-582: A draft resolution calling for an end to political detentions and military attacks against ethnic minorities in Myanmar. Mbeki later told the media that the resolution exceeded the Security Council's mandate, and that its tabling had been illegal in terms of international law . Mbeki's presidency coincided with an escalating political and economic crisis in South Africa's neighbour, Zimbabwe, under president Mugabe of ZANU-PF. Problems included land invasions under
3515-674: A fairly common practice, and even a rite of passage, among young people identified as belonging to the future generation of ANC and SACP political leaders. He was educated at the Lenin Institute , where, because of the secrecy required, he went by the alias "Jack Fortune." He excelled at the institute and in June 1970 was appointed to the Central Committee of the SACP, alongside Chris Hani. The last part of his training entailed military training, also
3700-491: A good friend. Mugabe unsuccessfully urged Soames to remain in Zimbabwe for several more years, and also failed to convince the UK to assume a two-year "guiding role" for his government because most ZANU–PF members lacked experience in governing. ZANU–PF's absolute parliamentary majority allowed them to rule alone, but Mugabe created a government of national unity by inviting members of rival parties to join his cabinet. Mugabe moved into
3885-500: A guerrilla war against Smith's government. Among the revolutionaries, it was known as the "Second Chimurenga". Paramilitary groups based themselves in neighboring Tanzania and Zambia; many of their fighters were inadequately armed and trained. ZANU's military wing, the Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army (ZANLA), consisted largely of Shona. It was based in neighboring Mozambique and gained funds from
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#17331063312224070-503: A hotel in Switzerland . Known as "Operation Flair", PW Botha was kept informed of all the meetings. At the same time, Mandela and Kobie Coetzee , the Minister of Justice, were also holding secret talks. 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
4255-516: A house in Quelimane and kept him under partial house arrest , with Mugabe requiring permission to travel. It would be almost a year before Machel accepted Mugabe's leadership of ZANU. Mugabe travelled to various ZANLA camps in Mozambique to build support among its officers. By mid-1976, he had secured the allegiance of ZANLA's military commanders and established himself as the most prominent guerrilla leader battling Smith's regime. In August 1977, he
4440-562: A joint platform with ZAPU known as the Patriotic Front. In September 1978 Mugabe met with Nkomo in Lusaka. He was angry with the latter's secret attempts to negotiate with Smith. The beginning of the end for Smith came when South African Prime Minister B. J. Vorster concluded that white minority rule was unsustainable in a country where blacks outnumbered whites 22:1. Under pressure from Vorster, Smith accepted in principle that white minority rule could not be maintained forever. He oversaw
4625-468: A makeshift platform had been erected for speakers. Having become a much-respected figure through his profession, his possession of three degrees, and his travels abroad, Mugabe was among those invited to speak to the crowd. Following this event, Mugabe decided to devote himself full-time to activism, resigning his teaching post in Ghana (after having served two years of the four-year teaching contract). He chaired
4810-498: A monopoly on "Zimbabwe's economic power". This was a view echoed by many government ministers and the government-controlled media. One of these ministers, Tekere, was involved in an incident in which he and seven armed men stormed a white-owned farmhouse, killing an elderly farmer; they alleged that in doing so they were foiling a coup attempt. Tekere was acquitted of murder; however, Mugabe dropped him from his cabinet. Racial mistrust and suspicion continued to grow. In December 1981,
4995-419: A narrowing budget deficit , and consistent, moderate economic growth. However, despite his retention of various social democratic programmes, and notable expansions to the black economic empowerment programme, critics often regarded Mbeki's economic policies as neoliberal , with insufficient consideration for developmental and redistributive objectives. On these grounds, Mbeki grew increasingly alienated from
5180-400: A new generation of leaders had to be prepared for succession. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Mbeki's key role in the early negotiations made him a likely contender for top leadership positions in the party, and he was even considered to be in line for the ANC presidency. However, at the ANC's 48th National Conference in July 1991, its first national elective conference since 1960, Mbeki
5365-575: A new party, the Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU), in August; Ndabaningi Sithole became the group's president, while appointing Mugabe to be the group's secretary-general in absentia . Nkomo responded by forming his own group, the People's Caretaker Council, which was widely referred to as "ZAPU" after its predecessor. ZAPU and ZANU violently opposed one another and soon gang warfare broke out between their rival memberships. Mugabe
5550-479: A plan for a transition to formal independence as a sovereign republic under black-majority rule, also maintaining that Rhodesia would be renamed Zimbabwe, a name adopted from the Iron Age archaeological site of Great Zimbabwe . The agreement also ensured that the country's white minority retained many of its economic and political privileges, with 20 seats to be reserved for whites in the new Parliament. By insisting on
5735-518: A proposal which would allow the black population representation through 15 of the 65 seats in the country's parliament. Mugabe and others in the NDP were furious at Nkomo's compromise. Following the conference, Southern Rhodesia's African nationalist movement fell into disarray. Mugabe spoke at a number of NDP rallies before the party was banned by the government in December 1961. Many of its members re-grouped as
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5920-464: A rational expectation. Following the 1994 elections , South Africa's first under universal suffrage , Mbeki became one of the two national deputy presidents in the ANC-led Government of National Unity , in which Mandela was president. At the ANC's next national conference , held in December that year, Mbeki was elected unopposed to the ANC deputy presidency, also under Mandela. In June 1996,
6105-506: A relationship with another woman, with whom he had three further offspring. Loubière died shortly after and was replaced by an Irishman, Father Jerome O'Hea, who welcomed the return of the Mugabe family to Kutama. In contrast to the racism that permeated Southern Rhodesian society, under O'Hea's leadership the Kutama Mission preached an ethos of racial equality. O'Hea nurtured the young Mugabe; shortly before his death in 1970 he described
6290-645: A renowned ANC intellectual, Mbeki has been involved in ANC politics since 1956, when he joined the ANC Youth League , and has been a member of the party's National Executive Committee since 1975. Born in the Transkei , he left South Africa aged twenty to attend university in England, and spent almost three decades in exile abroad, until the ANC was unbanned in 1990. He rose through the organisation in its information and publicity section and as Oliver Tambo 's protégé, but he
6475-404: A rite of passage, including in intelligence, guerrilla tactics, and weaponry. However, his biographer Mark Gevisser adduces that he was "not the ideal candidate for military life," and Max Sisulu , who trained alongside him, says that he always regarded Mbeki as better suited to political leadership than military leadership. In April 1971, having been pulled out from military training, Mbeki
6660-689: A role in African and global politics that was disproportionate to the country's size and historical influence. He was the central architect of the New Partnership for Africa's Development and, as the inaugural chairperson of the African Union , spearheaded the introduction of the African Peer Review Mechanism . After the IBSA Dialogue Forum was launched in 2003, his government collaborated with India and Brazil to lobby for reforms at
6845-829: A second degree by correspondence, this time a Bachelor of Administration from the University of London International Programmes through distance and learning. In Northern Rhodesia, he was taken in for a time by the family of Emmerson Mnangagwa , whom Mugabe inspired to join the liberation movement and who would later go on to be President of Zimbabwe . In 1958, Mugabe moved to Ghana to work at St Mary's Teacher Training College in Takoradi . He taught at Apowa Secondary School, also at Takoradi, after obtaining his local certification at Achimota College (1958–1960), where he met his first wife, Sally Hayfron . According to Mugabe, "I went [to Ghana] as an adventurist. I wanted to see what it would be like in an independent African state". Ghana had been
7030-629: A speech in which she declared that the British Queen Elizabeth II "can go to hell". Europeans must realise that unless the legitimate demands of African nationalism are recognised, then racial conflict is inevitable. The rise of African nationalism generated a white backlash in Southern Rhodesia, with the right-wing Rhodesian Front winning the December 1962 general election . The new government sought to preserve white minority rule by tightening security and establishing full independence from
7215-567: A teaching diploma, Mugabe left Kutama in 1945. During the following years, Mugabe taught at various schools around Southern Rhodesia, among them the Dadaya Mission school in Shabani . There is no evidence that Mugabe was involved in political activity at the time, and he did not participate in the country's 1948 general strike . In 1949 he won a scholarship to study at the University of Fort Hare in South Africa's Eastern Cape . There he joined
7400-476: A top-level strategic meeting in Luanda , Angola, when Maharaj, who had been tasked with running the political underground, claimed that Mbeki's records from the Swaziland office were in fact "just an empty folder." After being deported, Mbeki returned to Lusaka, where he was made Duma Nokwe's deputy in the ANC's Department of Information and Propaganda (DIP). In January 1977, he was posted to Lagos , Nigeria, where he
7585-645: A touring football team, and then in Rhodesia . He arrived at the ANC's new headquarters in Dar es Salaam , Tanzania, in November 1962, and left shortly afterwards for England. While at Sussex, Mbeki was involved in ANC work and in broader organising for the English Anti-Apartheid Movement . Months after his arrival, his father was arrested during a Security Branch raid at Liliesleaf Farm in July 1963. During
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7770-553: A vacancy arises. The president is elected by the National Assembly , the lower house of Parliament, from among its members. The chief justice must oversee the election. Once elected, a person is no longer a member of the National Assembly. They must then be sworn in as president within five days of the election. Should a vacancy arise, the date of a new election must be set by the chief justice, but not more than 30 days after
7955-485: A viceroy, the governor-general . Following the 1960 referendum and subsequent declaration of the Republic of South Africa on 31 May 1961, the office of State President was created. It was originally a ceremonial post, but became an executive post in 1984 when a new constitution abolished the post of Prime Minister and transferred its powers to the state president. The country ended minority rule in 1994. The office of
8140-645: A village about 11 kilometres (7 miles) away; the children were permitted to remain at the mission primary school, living with relatives in Kutama during term-time and returning to their parental home on weekends. Around the same time, Robert's older brother Raphael died, likely of diarrhoea . In early 1934, Robert's other older brother, Michael, also died, after consuming poisoned maize. Later that year, Gabriel left his family in search of employment in Bulawayo . He subsequently abandoned Bona and their six children and established
8325-564: A white-owned farm near Hartley , killing its inhabitants. The government responded by returning the members of the ZANU executive, including Mugabe, to Salisbury Prison in 1966. There, forty prisoners were divided among four communal cells, with many sleeping on the concrete floor due to overcrowding; Mugabe shared his cell with Sithole, Enos Nkala , and Edgar Tekere . He remained there for eight years, devoting his time to reading and studying. During this period, he gained several further degrees from
8510-562: Is mild. People are being terrorized. It is terror ." Reacting to ZANU–PF's acts of voter intimidation, Mugabe was called before Soames at Government House. Mugabe regarded the meeting as a British attempt to thwart his electoral campaign. Under the terms of the negotiation, Soames had the power to disqualify any political party guilty of voter intimidation. Rhodesia's security services, Nkomo, Muzorewa, and some of his own advisers all called on Soames to disqualify ZANU–PF. After deliberation, Soames disagreed, believing that ZANU–PF were sure to win
8695-521: 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." In the late 1970s, Mbeki made a number of trips to the United States in search of support among US corporations. Literate and funny, he made a wide circle of friends in New York City. Mbeki
8880-458: Is safely held." Mbeki said in 2004: ...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
9065-534: Is the head of state and head of government of the Republic of South Africa . The president directs the executive branch of the government and is the commander-in-chief of the South African National Defence Force . Between 1961 and 1994, the office of head of state was the state presidency . The president is elected by the National Assembly , the lower house of Parliament , and is usually
9250-609: Is the commander-in-chief of the South African National Defence Force thereby possessing influence or control over foreign and security policy. The president is accorded the constitutional powers to declare war and make peace, negotiate and sign (although not ratify) treaties (and the alliances that may come with them), and receives and appoints diplomatic officials, confers honours and grants pardons. African National Congress Robert Mugabe Robert Gabriel Mugabe ( / m ʊ ˈ ɡ ɑː b i / ; Shona: [muɡaɓe] ; 21 February 1924 – 6 September 2019)
9435-488: The "fast-track" land reform programme, political violence and state-sponsored human rights violations, and hyperinflation . With SADC's endorsement, Mbeki frequently acted as a mediator between ZANU-PF and the Zimbabwean opposition. However, controversially, his policy towards the Mugabe regime was one of non-confrontational "quiet diplomacy" and "constructive engagement": he refused to condemn Mugabe and instead attempted to persuade him to accept gradual political reforms. He
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#17331063312229620-623: The 1979 general election which resulted in Abel Muzorewa , a politically moderate black bishop, being elected Prime Minister of the reconstituted Zimbabwe Rhodesia . Both ZANU and ZAPU had boycotted the election, which did not receive international recognition. At the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting 1979 , held in Lusaka, the British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher surprised delegates by announcing that
9805-610: The 2003 World Trade Organisation conference , and also pressed for reforms at the UN which would allow developing countries a stronger role. Indeed, Mbeki had called for reform at the UN as early as 1999 and 2000. In 2007, following a prolonged diplomatic campaign, South Africa secured a non-permanent seat on the UN Security Council for a two-year term. Controversially, in February 2007, South Africa followed Russia and China in voting against
9990-594: The African National Congress (ANC) and the South African Communist Party (SACP). Both Epainette and Govan came from educated, Christian , land-owning families, and Govan's father was Sikelewu Mbeki, a colonially appointed headman . The couple had met in Durban , where Epainette had become the second black woman to join the SACP (then still called the Communist Party of South Africa). However, while Mbeki
10175-453: The African National Congress youth league (ANCYL) and attended African nationalist meetings, where he met a number of Jewish South African communists who introduced him to Marxist ideas. He later related that despite this exposure to Marxism, his biggest influence at the time were the actions of Mahatma Gandhi during the Indian independence movement . In 1952, he left the university with
10360-806: The Cape of Good Hope were vested in their governors. Likewise, it was invested in the presidents of the Boer republics of the Transvaal and the Orange Free State . Alternating sovereignty as a result of wars culminated in the Treaty of Vereeniging which concluded the South African War . The Union of South Africa , a British Dominion, was established on 31 May 1910 with the British monarch as titular head of state, represented by
10545-602: The Cato Institute commended Mbeki's macroeconomic policies, which reduced the budget deficit and public debt and which according to them likely played a role in increasing economic growth. According to the Free Market Foundation , during the Mbeki presidency, average annualised quarter-on-quarter GDP growth was 4.2%, and average annual inflation was 5.7%. On the other hand, the shift alienated leftists, including inside in
10730-546: The Growth, Employment and Redistribution (GEAR) programme, which was introduced in 1996 and remained a cornerstone of Mbeki's administration after 1999. In comparison to the Reconstruction and Development Programme policy which had been the basis of the ANC's platform in 1994, GEAR placed less emphasis on developmental and redistributive imperatives, and subscribed to elements of the liberalisation, deregulation, and privatisation at
10915-707: The Gukurahundi of 1982–1987, Mugabe's Fifth Brigade crushed ZAPU-linked opposition in Matabeleland in a campaign that killed at least 20,000 people, mostly Ndebele civilians. Internationally, he sent troops into the Second Congo War and chaired the Non-Aligned Movement (1986–1989), the Organisation of African Unity (1997–1998), and the African Union (2015–2016). Pursuing decolonisation , Mugabe emphasized
11100-415: The Mass Media Trust , through which they bought out a South African company that owned most of Zimbabwe's newspapers. The white editors of these newspapers were sacked and replaced by government appointees. These media outlets subsequently became a source of the party's propaganda. At independence, 39% of Zimbabwe's land was under the ownership of around 6000 white large-scale commercial farmers, while 4%
11285-683: The National Party withdrew from the Government of National Unity and, with the second deputy, de Klerk, having thereby resigned, Mbeki became the sole deputy president. The same year, as deputy president, Mbeki acted as a peace broker in what was then known as Zaire , following the First Congo War and the deposition of Zairean president Mobutu Sese Seko . Mbeki also took on increasing domestic responsibilities, including executive powers delegated to him by Mandela, to such an extent that Mandela called him "a de facto president." Mandela had made it clear publicly since early 1995 or earlier that he intended to retire after one term in office, and by then Mbeki
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#173310633122211470-509: The Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), a position that he retained until 1989. As the leader of one of the Front Line States , the countries bordering apartheid South Africa, he gained credibility within the anti-apartheid movement. The wrongs of the past must now stand forgiven and forgotten. If ever we look to the past, let us do so for the lesson the past has taught us, namely that oppression and racism are inequalities that must never find scope in our political and social system. It could never be
11655-429: The Premier's residence in Salisbury, which he left furnished in the same style as Smith had left it. Across the country, statues of Cecil Rhodes were removed and squares and roads named after prominent colonial figures were renamed after black nationalists. In 1982 Salisbury was renamed Harare. Mugabe employed North Korean architects to design Heroes' Acre , a monument and complex in western Harare to commemorate
11840-428: The South African National Defence Force (SANDF). Contrary to presidential systems around the world, the president of South Africa is elected by the Parliament of South Africa rather than by the people directly. They are thus answerable to it in theory and able to influence legislation in practice as head of the majority party. The president is elected at the first sitting of Parliament after an election, and whenever
12025-485: The United Nations , advocating for a stronger role for developing countries. Among South Africa's various peacekeeping commitments during his presidency, Mbeki was the primary mediator in the conflict between ZANU-PF and the Zimbabwean opposition in the 2000s. However, he was frequently criticised for his policy of "quiet diplomacy" in Zimbabwe, under which he refused to condemn Robert Mugabe 's regime or institute sanctions against it. Also highly controversial worldwide
12210-481: The Zimbabwe African People's Union (ZAPU) several days later, with Mugabe appointed as ZAPU's publicity secretary and general secretary. Racial violence was growing in the country, with aggrieved black Africans targeting the white community. Mugabe deemed such conflict a necessary tactic in the overthrow of British colonial dominance and white minority rule. This contrasted with Nkomo's view that African nationalists should focus on international diplomacy to encourage
12395-503: The propaganda section of the ANC's English headquarters. He remained active in the SACP, which was very closely allied to the ANC, and in 1967 he was appointed to the editorial board of its official magazine, the African Communist . Throughout his time in England, Mbeki was the ward of O. R. Tambo and his wife Adelaide Tambo – in the absence of his parents, it was Adelaide and senior communist Michael Harmel who attended Mbeki's graduation ceremony in 1965. O. R. Tambo later became
12580-598: The redistribution of land controlled by white farmers to landless blacks, initially on a "willing seller–willing buyer" basis. Frustrated at the slow rate of redistribution, from 2000 he encouraged black Zimbabweans to violently seize white-owned farms. Food production was severely impacted, leading to famine, economic decline, and foreign sanctions. Opposition to Mugabe grew, but he was re-elected in 2002 , 2008 , and 2013 through campaigns dominated by violence, electoral fraud , and nationalistic appeals to his rural Shona voter base. In 2017, members of his party ousted him in
12765-407: The speaker of the National Assembly . The president is the head of state , head of government and commander-in-chief of the South African National Defence Force . The rights, responsibilities and remuneration of the president are enumerated in Chapter V of the Constitution of South Africa and subsequent amendments and laws passed by the Parliament of South Africa . The executive powers of
12950-430: The ANC and its Tripartite Alliance . Zwelinzima Vavi of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) was an outspoken critic of Mbeki's "market-friendly" economic policies, claiming that Mbeki's "flirtation" with neoliberalism had been "absolutely disastrous" for development, and especially for the labour-intensive development required to address South Africa's high unemployment rate. The discord between Mbeki and
13135-463: The ANC and other political organisations would be unbanned, and ANC exiles began to return to South Africa. At the same time that it was to negotiate the end of apartheid , the ANC had to implement a significant internal reorganisation, absorbing into its official exile bodies the domestic ANC underground, released political prisoners, and other activists from the trade unions and the United Democratic Front . It also had an ageing leadership, meaning that
13320-462: The ANC won by a significant majority, Mbeki was elected president of South Africa . He was re-elected for a second term in 2002. Ours is a capitalist society. It is therefore inevitable that, in part – and I repeat, in part – we must address this goal of deracialisation within the context of the property relations characteristic [of] a capitalist economy. Mbeki had been highly involved in economic policy as deputy president, especially in spearheading
13505-801: The ANC's leadership. Over the next three years, Ramaphosa also came to eclipse Mbeki as the party's central negotiator when he, not Mbeki, was appointed to lead the ANC's delegation to the CODESA talks. Once SACP leader Chris Hani was assassinated in April 1993, Ramaphosa became Mbeki's primary competition in the ANC succession battle. When Tambo died later the same month, Mbeki succeeded him as ANC national chairperson. Well, I don't imagine that there's any such requirement. I mean, he's got very big feet. The shoes will be too big. What does that mean? Does it mean we start off by going to jail for 27 years and then sort of graduate from there, grow taller, wear strange shirts? It's not
13690-478: The ANC's longest-serving president, and he acted as Mbeki's "political mentor and patron" until his death in 1993. Other friends Mbeki made in England, including Ronnie Kasrils and brothers Essop Pahad and Aziz Pahad , were also among his key political allies in his later career. In February 1969, Mbeki was sent to Moscow in the Soviet Union to receive Marxist–Leninist political and ideological training –
13875-454: The ANC. Mbeki joined the ANC Youth League at age fourteen and in 1958 became the secretary of its Lovedale branch. Shortly afterwards, at the start of his final year of high school, he was identified as one of the leaders of a March 1959 boycott of classes, and was summarily expelled from Lovedale. He nonetheless sat for matric examinations and obtained a second-class pass. In June 1960, Mbeki moved to Johannesburg , where he lived in
14060-478: The ANC. The agreement allowed the ANC to open an office in Zimbabwe and to move MK weapons and cadres over Zimbabwean borders; moreover, it committed the Zimbabwean military to assisting the ANC, and the government to providing MK cadres with Zimbabwean identity documents. However, Mbeki handed the running of the Salisbury office over to another ANC official, and the deal later collapsed. In 1985, PW Botha declared
14245-618: The African continent. Simultaneously, however, he argued for increased developmental aid to Africa. He called for Western leaders to address global apartheid and unequal development, most memorably in a speech to the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg in August 2002. Although Mbeki also forged strategic individual relationships with key African leaders, especially the heads of state of Nigeria, Algeria, Mozambique, and Tanzania, perhaps his central foreign policy instrument
14430-525: The African nationalist Leopold Takawira , urged them to stay. In July 1960, Takawira and two other NDP officials were arrested; in protest, Mugabe joined a demonstration of 7,000 people who planned to march from Highfield to the Prime Minister's office in Salisbury. The demonstration was stopped by riot police outside Stoddart Hall in Harare township. By midday the next day, the crowd had grown to 40,000 and
14615-558: The British government to grant their demands. Nine months after it had been founded, ZAPU was also banned by the government, and in September 1962 Mugabe and other senior party officials were arrested and restricted to their home districts for three months. Both Mugabe and his wife were in trouble with the law; he had been charged with making subversive statements in a public speech and awarded bail before his trial. Hayfron had been sentenced to two years imprisonment—suspended for 15 months—for
14800-628: The HIV/AIDS policy of Mbeki's government in subsequent years. A national mother-to-child transmission prevention programme was not introduced until 2002, when it was mandated by the Constitutional Court in response to a successful legal challenge by the Treatment Action Campaign . Similarly, chronic highly active antiretroviral therapy for AIDS-sick people was not introduced in the public healthcare system until late 2003, reportedly at
14985-721: The Highfield Government School in Salisbury 's Harari township and in 1954 to the Mambo Township Government School in Gwelo . Meanwhile, he gained a Bachelor of Education degree by correspondence from the University of South Africa , and ordered a number of Marxist tracts—among them Karl Marx 's Capital and Friedrich Engels ' The Condition of the Working Class in England —from a London mail-order company. Despite his growing interest in politics, he
15170-511: The People's Republic of China. ZAPU's military wing, the Zimbabwe People's Revolutionary Army (ZIPRA), was instead funded by the Soviet Union , was based in Zambia, and consisted largely of Ndebele . Mugabe and other senior ZANU members had growing doubts about Sithole's leadership, deeming him increasingly irritable and irrational. In October 1968 Sithole had tried to smuggle a message out of
15355-458: The SACP. Thus the ANC instructed him to join the growing cohort of cadres who were leaving South Africa to evade police attention, receive training, and establish the overt ANC structures that were now illegal inside the country. Mbeki was detained twice by the police while attempting to leave the country, first in Rustenberg , when the group he was travelling with failed to pass themselves off as
15540-546: 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 negotiations between the ANC and the government that eventually led to the democratisation of South Africa. 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 . On 2 February 1990, Botha's successor as state president, F. W. de Klerk , announced that
15725-564: The Soviet Union, China, North Korea, Vietnam, and Cuba. Mugabe called for the overthrow of Rhodesia's predominately white government, the execution of Smith and his "criminal gang", the expropriation of white-owned land, and the transformation of Rhodesia into a one-party Marxist state . He repeatedly called for violence against the country's white minority, referring to white Rhodesians as "blood-sucking exploiters", "sadistic killers", and "hard-core racists". In one typical example, taken from
15910-618: The UK would officially recognize the country's independence if it transitioned to democratic majority rule. The negotiations took place at Lancaster House in London and were led by the Conservative Party politician Peter Carington . Mugabe refused to attend these London peace talks, opposing the idea of a negotiated rather than military solution to the Rhodesian War. Machel insisted that he must, threatening to end Mozambican support for
16095-522: The United Kingdom. Mugabe met with colleagues at his house in Salisbury's Highbury district, where he argued that as political demonstrations were simply being banned, it was time to move towards armed resistance. Both he and others rejected Nkomo's proposal that they establish a government-in-exile in Dar es Salaam . He and Hayfron skipped bail to attend a ZAPU meeting in the Tanganyikan city. There,
16280-461: The University of London: a masters in economics, a bachelor of administration, and two law degrees. While imprisoned, Mugabe learned that his son had died of encephalitis at the age of three. Mugabe was grief-stricken and requested a leave of absence to visit his wife in Ghana. He never forgave the prison authorities for refusing this request. Claims have also circulated among those who knew him at
16465-474: The ZANU executive voted to suspend Sithole's membership of the organization. Fearing that the guerrilla war would spread south, the South African government pressured Rhodesia to advance the process of détente with the politically moderate black governments of Zambia and Tanzania. As part of these negotiations, Smith's government agreed to release a number of black revolutionaries who had been indefinitely detained. After almost eleven years of imprisonment, Mugabe
16650-471: The ZANU-PF if he did not. Mugabe arrived in London in September 1979. There, he and Nkomo presented themselves as part of the "Patriotic Front" but established separate headquarters in the city. At the conference the pair were divided in their attitude; Nkomo wanted to present himself as a moderate while Mugabe played up to his image as a Marxist revolutionary, with Carrington exploiting this division. Throughout
16835-589: The Zezuru clan, one of the smallest branches of the Shona tribe . Mugabe's paternal grandfather was Chief Constantine Karigamombe, alias "Matibiri", a powerful figure who served King Lobengula in the 19th century. Through his father, he claimed membership of the chieftaincy family that has provided the hereditary rulers of Zvimba for generations. The Jesuits were strict disciplinarians and under their influence Mugabe developed an intense self-discipline, while also becoming
17020-566: The Zimbabwe's wealthiest people. Growing corruption among the socio-economic elite generated resentment among the wider population, much of which was living in poverty. ZANU–PF also began establishing its own business empire, founding the M&;S Syndicate in 1980 and the Zidoo Holdings in 1981. By 1992, the party had fixed assets and businesses worth an estimated Z$ 500 million (US$ 75 million). In 1980, ZANU–PF used Nigerian funds to set up
17205-452: The Zimbabwean opposition. A South African government observer mission also endorsed the result of the Zimbabwean parliamentary elections of 2005 , apparently leading Tsvangirai's party, the Movement for Democratic Change (MDC), to effectively sever relations with Mbeki's administration. Following another contested election in Zimbabwe – after which Mbeki controversially denied that there was
17390-606: The advice of the Judicial Service Commission . The president plays a role in the formation of legislation. The president can sign bills into laws or veto legislation (subject to an override), refer bills back to Parliament or to the Constitutional Court, or call for a referendum. The president summons parliament, and often delivers a State of the Nation Address at the beginning of each session. The president
17575-498: The base. In Swaziland, he lived at Stanley Mabizela's family home in Manzini . Working with Albert Dhlomo, Mbeki was responsible for helping to re-establish underground ANC networks in the South African provinces of Natal and Transvaal , which shared a border with Swaziland. His counterpart inside South Africa was MK operative Jacob Zuma , who ran the Natal underground. According to Gevisser,
17760-564: The black majority. After making antigovernmental comments, he was convicted of sedition and imprisoned between 1964 and 1974. On release, he fled to Mozambique, established his leadership of ZANU, and oversaw its role in the Rhodesian Bush War , fighting Ian Smith 's predominantly white government. He reluctantly participated in peace talks in the United Kingdom that resulted in the Lancaster House Agreement , putting an end to
17945-417: The case only gained such attention because the accused were white. His defence of torture and contempt for legal procedures damaged his international standing. White flight continued to grow, and within three years of Mugabe's premiership half of all white Zimbabweans had emigrated. In the 1985 election, Smith's Conservative Alliance of Zimbabwe won 15 of the 20 seats allocated for white Zimbabweans. Mugabe
18130-480: The causal link between HIV and AIDS, he often posited a need to investigate alternate causes of and alternative treatments for AIDS, frequently suggesting that immunodeficiency was the indirect result of poverty. His political descent began at the ANC's Polokwane conference in December 2007, when he was replaced as ANC president by Zuma. His term as national president was not due to expire until June 2009, but, on 20 September 2008, he announced that he would resign at
18315-597: The centre of Washington Consensus -style reforms. It was therefore viewed by some as a "policy reversal" and embrace of neoliberalism , and thus as an abandonment of the ANC's socialist principles. Mbeki also emphasised communication between government, business, and labour, establishing four working groups – for big business, black business, trade unions, and commercial agriculture – under which ministers, senior officials, and Mbeki himself met regularly with business and union leaders to build trust and explore solutions to structural economic problems. Conservative groups such as
18500-608: The college and shared his political interests. While Mugabe was teaching abroad, an anti-colonialist African nationalist movement was established in Southern Rhodesia. It was first led by Joshua Nkomo 's Southern Rhodesia African National Congress , founded in September 1957 and then banned by the colonial government in February 1959. SRANC was replaced by the more radically oriented National Democratic Party (NDP), founded in January 1960. In May 1960, Mugabe returned to Southern Rhodesia, bringing Hayfron with him. The pair had planned for their visit to be short, however Mugabe's friend,
18685-498: The concept of a dual or two-track economy in South Africa, with severe underdevelopment in one segment of the population, and, for example in a 2003 newsletter, argued that high growth alone would only benefit the developed segment, without significant trickle-down benefits for the rest of the population. Yet, somewhat paradoxically, he explicitly advocated state support for the creation of a black capitalist class in South Africa. The government's black economic empowerment policy, which
18870-463: The cover of attending a UN conference. As part of this reconnaissance trip, he and his colleague Max Sisulu spent time with S'bu Ndebele , Max's sister Lindiwe Sisulu , and their associates in the Black Consciousness movement , which at the time was ascendent in neighbouring South Africa. Mbeki made a positive report to the ANC executive, and he was sent back to Swaziland to begin establishing
19055-537: The day-to-day military operations of ZANLA, which he entrusted to Tongogara. In January 1976, ZANLA launched its first major infiltration from Mozambique, with nearly 1000 guerrillas crossing the border to attack white-owned farms and stores. In response, Smith's government enlisted all men under the age of 35, expanding the Rhodesian army by 50%. ZANLA's attacks forced large numbers of white landowners to abandon their farms; their now-unemployed black workers joined ZANLA by
19240-524: The early 1980s, Mbeki, Jacob Zuma and Aziz Pahad were appointed by Tambo to conduct private talks with representatives of the National Party 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 . By September 1989, the team secretly met with Maritz Spaarwater and Mike Louw in
19425-494: The elderly white MP Wally Stuttaford was accused of being a South African agent, arrested, and tortured, generating anger among whites. In July 1982, South African-backed white militants destroyed 13 aircraft at Thornhill . A number of white military officers were accused of complicity, arrested, and tortured. They were put on trial but cleared by judges, after which they were immediately re-arrested. Their case generated an international outcry, which Mugabe criticized, stating that
19610-565: The election and that disqualifying them would wreck any chance of an orderly transition of power . In the February election , ZANU–PF secured 63% of the national vote, gaining 57 of the 80 parliamentary seats allocated for black parties and providing them with an absolute majority . ZAPU had gained 20 seats, and UANC had three. Mugabe was elected MP for the Salisbury constituency of Highfield . Attempting to calm panic and prevent white flight, Mugabe appeared on television and called for national unity, stability, and law and order, insisting that
19795-421: The election on the basis of the country's ethnic divisions; Mugabe was Shona, a community that made up around 70% of the country's population, while Nkomo was Ndebele, a tribal group who made up only around 20%. For many in the white community and in the British government, this outcome was a terrifying prospect due to Mugabe's avowed Marxist beliefs and the inflammatory comments that he had made about whites during
19980-458: The election would cause economic damage as it had in Mozambique. Accordingly, during his electoral campaign, Mugabe avoided the use of Marxist and revolutionary rhetoric. Mugabe insisted that in the election, ZANU would stand as a separate party to ZAPU, and refused Nkomo's request for a meeting. He formed ZANU into a political party, known as Zimbabwe African National Union – Patriotic Front (ZANU–PF). Predictions were made that ZANU–PF would win
20165-404: The election. Upon election, the president immediately resigns their seat for the duration of the presidential term. The president may be removed either by a motion of no-confidence or an impeachment trial . A number of manifestations of the office of president have existed. Aspects of these offices exist within the presidency today. The executive leadership of the British colonies of Natal and
20350-523: The ensuing Rivonia Trial , Mbeki appeared before the United Nations (UN) Special Committee on Apartheid and later led a student march from Brighton to London, a distance of fifty miles. At the conclusion of the trial, Govan and seven other ANC leaders, among them Nelson Mandela and Walter Sisulu , were sentenced to life imprisonment . Mbeki completed his bachelor's degree in economics in May 1965 but, at
20535-557: The exhortation of O. R. Tambo , enrolled for a Master's in economics and development instead of returning to Africa to join Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK), the ANC's armed wing. His Master's dissertation was in economic geography . In addition to this and his political organising, he developed a deep fondness for Yeats , Brecht , Shakespeare , and blues music . After completing his Master's, in October 1966 he moved to London to work full-time for
20720-572: The first African state to gain independence from European colonial powers and under the leadership of Kwame Nkrumah underwent a range of African nationalist reforms; Mugabe reveled in this environment. In tandem with his teaching, Mugabe attended the Kwame Nkrumah Ideological Institute in Winneba . Mugabe later claimed that it was in Ghana that he finally embraced Marxism. He also began a relationship there with Hayfron who worked at
20905-579: The first NDP congress, held in October 1960, assisted by Chitepo on the procedural aspects. Mugabe was elected the party's publicity secretary. Mugabe consciously injected emotionalism into the NDP's African nationalism, hoping to broaden its support among the wider population by appealing to traditional cultural values. He helped to form the NDP Youth Wing and encouraged the incorporation of ancestral prayers, traditional costume, and female ululation into its meetings. In February 1961 he married Hayfron in
21090-527: The government discovered that Mbeki was involved in military activity inside Swaziland, and he and Dhlomo – as well as Zuma, who was in the country illegally – were detained and then deported , though they managed to negotiate their deportation to the neutral territory of Mozambique rather than to South Africa. Mbeki's management of the Swaziland base later became a point of contention between him and Mac Maharaj , with whom his relationship has remained acrimonious decades later. In 1978, Maharaj and Mbeki argued at
21275-406: The government, as was the case in many African countries. The presidential term is five years, with a limit of two terms. Thus the electoral system attempts (at least on paper) to prevent the accumulation of power in the president as occurred during Apartheid and as is the case currently in many other African countries. According to chapter five of the constitution , the president can only exercise
21460-523: The guerrilla armies and old Rhodesian security forces into a new Zimbabwean military . Members of both ZANLA and ZIPRA were integrated into the army; though, there remained a strong rivalry between the two groups. As Prime Minister, Mugabe retained Walls as the head of the armed forces. Mugabe's government continued to make regular pronouncements about converting Zimbabwe into a socialist society. In contrast to Mugabe's talk of socialism, his government's budgetary policies were conservative, operating within
21645-474: The guerrilla war. During the campaign, Mugabe survived two assassination attempts. In the first, which took place on 6 February, a grenade was thrown at his Mount Pleasant home, where it exploded against a garden wall. In the second, on 10 February, a roadside bomb exploded near his motorcade as he left a Fort Victoria rally. Mugabe himself was unharmed. Mugabe accused the Rhodesian security forces of being responsible for these attacks. In an attempt to quell
21830-567: The home of ANC secretary general Duma Nokwe and where he intended to sit for A-level examinations. The ANC had recently been banned in the aftermath of the Sharpeville massacre , but Mbeki remained highly politically active, becoming national secretary of the African Students' Association, a new (and short-lived) youth movement envisaged as replacing the now illegal ANC Youth League. It was also during this period that Nokwe recruited Mbeki into
22015-594: The initiation of relationships with many of the domestic activists who later became his political allies. Moreover, he was responsible for innovating some of the vocabulary which became emblematic of the 1980s anti-apartheid struggle, which burgeoned in the aftermath of the 1976 Soweto uprising . Such phrases as "mass democratic movement," "people's power," and the exhortation to " make the country ungovernable " are attributed to Mbeki, and gained widespread popularity inside South Africa through Radio Freedom broadcasts written by DIP or by Mbeki personally. Zuma has said that it
22200-479: The insistence of some members of Mbeki's cabinet . According to Nattrass, better access to antiretroviral drugs in South Africa could have prevented about 171,000 HIV infections and 343,000 deaths between 1999 and 2007. In November 2008, a Harvard University study estimated that more than 330,000 people died between 2000 and 2005 due to insufficient antiretroviral programmes under Mbeki's government. President of South Africa The president of South Africa
22385-414: The intolerance that comes from many who share that quality. They are loyal and true. They are their own harshest critics. They both have the gift to draw people to them... They were soul mates , different generations fusing at that particular time. He established some of his own high-level intelligence networks, with key underground operatives reporting directly to him, and Gevisser claims that these led to
22570-484: The latter as having "an exceptional mind and an exceptional heart". As well as helping provide Mugabe with a Christian education, O'Hea taught him about the Irish War of Independence , in which Irish revolutionaries had overthrown the British imperial regime. After completing six years of elementary education, in 1941 Mugabe was offered a place on a teacher training course at Kutama College . Mugabe's mother could not afford
22755-522: The latter, he organised study classes for the inmates, teaching them basic literacy, maths, and English. Sympathetic black warders smuggled messages from Mugabe and other members of the ZANU executive committee to activists outside the prison. At the executive's bidding, ZANU activist Herbert Chitepo had organised a small guerrilla force in Lusaka . In April 1966 the group carried out a failed attempt to destroy power pylons at Sinoia , and shortly after attacked
22940-415: The leader of the largest party, which has been the African National Congress since the first multiracial election was held on 27 April 1994. The Constitution limits the president's time in office to two five-year terms. The first president to be elected under the new constitution was Nelson Mandela . The incumbent is Cyril Ramaphosa , who was elected by the National Assembly on 15 February 2018 following
23125-426: The leadership of Ian Smith —banned ZANU and ZAPU and arrested all remaining leaders of the country's African nationalist movement. Smith's government made a unilateral declaration of independence from the United Kingdom in November 1965, renaming Southern Rhodesia as Rhodesia; the UK refused to recognize the legitimacy of this and imposed economic sanctions on the country. In 1972, the African nationalists launched
23310-495: The left was on public display by December 2002, when Mbeki attacked what he called divisive "ultra-leftists" in a speech to the ANC's 51st National Conference . However, Mbeki clearly never subscribed to undiluted neoliberalism. He retained various social democratic programmes and principles, and generally endorsed a mixed economy in South Africa. One of the ANC's slogans in the campaign for his 2004 re-election was, "A people's contract for growth and development." He popularised
23495-680: The left wing of the ANC, and from the leaders of the ANC's Tripartite Alliance partners, the Congress of South African Trade Unions and South African Communist Party . It was these leftist elements which supported Jacob Zuma over Mbeki in the political rivalry that erupted after Mbeki removed the latter from his post as deputy president in 2005. As president, Mbeki had an apparent predilection for foreign policy and particularly for multilateralism . His Pan-Africanism and vision for an " African renaissance " are central parts of his political persona, and commentators suggest that he secured for South Africa
23680-431: The need for a democratic black majority government, Carington was able to convince Mugabe to compromise on the other main issue of the conference, that of land ownership. Mugabe agreed to the protection of the white community's privately owned property on the condition that the UK and U.S. governments provide financial assistance allowing the Zimbabwean government to purchase much land for redistribution among blacks. Mugabe
23865-526: The negotiations, Mugabe did not trust the British and believed that they were manipulating events to their own advantage. The ensuing Lancaster House Agreement called for all participants in the Rhodesian Bush War to agree to a ceasefire, with a British governor, Christopher Soames , arriving in Rhodesia to oversee an election in which the various factions could compete as political parties. It outlined
24050-475: The outgoing administration like Smith and Ken Flower with his apparent sincerity. With the end of the war, petrol rationing, and economic sanctions, life for white Zimbabweans improved during the early years of Mugabe's rule. In the economic boom that followed, the white minority—which controlled considerable property and dominated commerce, industry, and banking—were the country's main beneficiaries. Nevertheless, many white Zimbabweans complained that they were
24235-480: The owner. This meant that Mugabe's government was largely restricted to purchasing land which was of poor quality. Its target was to resettle 18,000 black families on 2.5 million acres of white-owned land over three years. This would cost £30 million (US$ 60 million), half of which was to be provided by the UK government as per the Lancaster House Agreement. In 1986, Mugabe became chair of
24420-477: The pair developed "an unlikely rapport." Mbeki was also responsible for recruiting new MK operatives, for liaising with South African student and labour activists, and for liaising with Inkatha, which was becoming dominant in Natal. However, still another part of his duties was to act as the ANC's official representative in the country, and to maintain good diplomatic relations with the Swazi government. In March 1976,
24605-522: The party leadership met Tanganyika's president, Julius Nyerere , who also dismissed the idea of a government-in-exile and urged ZAPU to organise their resistance to white minority rule within Southern Rhodesia itself. In August, Hayfron gave birth to Mugabe's son, whom they named Nhamodzenyika, a Shona term meaning "suffering country". Mugabe insisted that she take their son back to Ghana, while he decided to return to Southern Rhodesia. There, African nationalists opposed to Nkomo's leadership had established
24790-564: The pensions of white civil servants would be guaranteed and that private property would be protected. Southern Rhodesia gained internationally recognized independence on 18 April 1980. Mugabe took the oath of office as the newly minted country's first Prime Minister shortly after midnight. He gave a speech at Salisbury's Rufaro Stadium announcing that Rhodesia would be renamed "Zimbabwe" and pledged racial reconciliation. Soames aided Mugabe in bringing about an orderly transition of power ; for this Mugabe remained grateful, describing Soames as
24975-569: The population to 92%. A new leadership elite were formed, who often expressed their newfound status through purchasing large houses and expensive cars, sending their children to private schools, and obtaining farms and businesses. To contain their excesses, in 1984 Mugabe drew up a "leadership code" which prohibited any senior figures from obtaining more than one salary or owning over 50-acres of agricultural land. There were exceptions, with Mugabe giving permission to General Solomon Mujuru to expand his business empire, resulting in his becoming one of
25160-554: The possibility that Rhodesia's security forces would launch a coup to prevent the election, Mugabe met with Peter Walls , the commander of Rhodesia's armed forces, and asked him to remain in his position in the event of a ZANU–PF victory. At the time Walls refused. The electoral campaign was marred by widespread voter intimidation , perpetrated by Nkomo's ZAPU, Abel Muzorewa 's United African National Council (UANC), and Mugabe's ZANU–PF. Commenting on ZANU–PF's activities in eastern Rhodesia, Nkomo complained that "the word intimidation
25345-459: The powers of the presidential office while within the Republic of South Africa . The president may appoint an acting president when travelling outside the country or unable to fulfill the duties of the office. A presidential vacancy should be filled first by the deputy president , then a Cabinet minister selected by the president, thereafter a Cabinet minister selected by the Cabinet, and finally by
25530-563: The president, and the roles that come with it, were established by chapter five of the Constitution of South Africa. South Africa has a distinctive system for the election of its president. Unlike other former British colonies and dominions who have adopted a parliamentary republican form of government and those that follow the Westminster system , South Africa's president is both head of state and head of government and commander-in-chief of
25715-441: The prison commanding ZANU activists to assassinate Smith. His plan was discovered, and he was put on trial in January 1969; desperate to avoid a death sentence, he declared that he renounced violence and his previous ideological commitments. Mugabe denounced Sithole's "treachery" in rejecting ZANU's cause, and the executive removed him as ZANU President in a vote of no confidence , selecting Mugabe as his successor. In November 1974,
25900-424: 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. Raising the diplomatic profile of the ANC, Mbeki acted as a point of contact for foreign governments and international organisations and he was extremely successful in this position. Mbeki also played
26085-446: The recommitment of the industrialised world to Africa's development" – epitomised Mbeki's strategy in Africa. Mbeki was also involved in the dissolution of the Organisation of African Unity and its replacement by the African Union (AU), of which he became the inaugural chairperson in 2002, and his government spearheaded the introduction of the AU's African Peer Review Mechanism in 2003. He
26270-456: The republic are vested in the president, who appoints various officials to positions listed in the Constitution, the most significant of which are the Cabinet ministers and justices of the Supreme Court of Appeal and the Constitutional Court . The president's Cabinet implements and enforces the Constitution and laws and carries out the president's political objectives. Judges are appointed on
26455-671: The request of the ANC National Executive Committee. The ANC's decision to "recall" Mbeki was understood to be linked to a high court judgement, handed down earlier that month, in which judge Chris Nicholson had alleged improper political interference in the National Prosecuting Authority and specifically in the corruption charges against Zuma . Nicholson's judgement was overturned by the Supreme Court of Appeal in January 2009, by which time Mbeki had been replaced as president by Kgalema Motlanthe . Mbeki
26640-418: The resignation of Jacob Zuma . Under the interim constitution (valid from 1994–96), there was a Government of National Unity , in which a member of Parliament (MP) from the largest opposition party was entitled to a position as deputy president . Along with Thabo Mbeki, the last apartheid president, F. W. de Klerk also served as deputy president, in his capacity as the leader of the National Party which
26825-406: The role of ambassador to the steady flow of delegates from the elite sectors of white South Africa. These included academics, clerics, business people and representatives of liberal white groups who travelled to Lusaka to assess the ANC's views on a democratic, free South Africa. Mbeki was seen as pragmatic, eloquent, rational and urbane. He was known for his diplomatic style and sophistication. In
27010-452: The secrecy of earlier years and openly gave interviews and access to American journalists, to the disapproval of some hardline communists. According to various sources, he was responsible for reforming the public image of the ANC from that of a terrorist organisation to that of a "government-in-waiting." When I look at Thabo, I look at my husband's son. Physically, they bear a striking resemblance... They are both perfectionists, but without
27195-758: 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. The motives behind Mbeki's Zimbabwe policy have been interpreted in various ways: for example, some suggest that he was attempting to maintain economic stability in Zimbabwe and therefore to protect South African economic interests, while others cite his attachment to ideals of African solidarity and opposition to what he perceived as quasi- imperial Western interference in Africa. In any case, Mbeki's policy on Zimbabwe attracted widespread criticism both domestically and internationally. Some also questioned Mbeki's neutrality in his role as mediator. After
27380-417: The struggle against minority rule. Zimbabwe also received much aid from Western countries, whose governments hoped that a stable and prosperous Zimbabwe would aid the transition of South Africa away from apartheid and minority rule. The United States provided Zimbabwe with a $ 25 million three-year aid package. The UK financed a land reform program, and provided military advisers to aid the integration of
27565-431: The thousands. By 1979, ZANLA were in a position to attack a number of Rhodesian cities. Over the course of the war, at least 30,000 people were killed. As a proportion of their wider population, the whites had higher number of fatalities, and by the latter part of the decade the guerrillas were winning. Mugabe focused on the propaganda war, making regular speeches and radio broadcasts. In these, he presented himself as
27750-490: The time that Mugabe was subjected to both physical and mental torture during his imprisonment. According to Father Emmanuel Ribeiro, who was Mugabe's priest during his imprisonment, Mugabe got through the experience "partly through the strength of his spirituality" but also because his "real strength was study and helping others to learn". While Mugabe was imprisoned, in August 1964, the Rhodesian Front government—now under
27935-418: The tuition fees, which were paid in part by his grandfather and in part by O'Hea. As part of this education, Mugabe began teaching at his old school, earning £2 per month, which he used to support his family. In 1944, Gabriel returned to Kutama with his three new children, but died shortly after, leaving Robert to take financial responsibility for both his three siblings and three half-siblings. Having attained
28120-482: The vacancy occurs. The Constitution has thus prescribed a system combining both parliamentary and presidential systems in a unique manner. Only Botswana and a few other countries use a similar system. Between 1996 and 2003 Israel combined the two systems in an opposite way, with direct elections for the post of prime minister . Although the presidency is the key institution, it is hedged about with numerous checks and balances that prevent its total dominance over
28305-507: The victims of racial discrimination . Many whites remained uneasy about living under the government of a black Marxist and they also feared that their children would be unable to secure jobs. There was a growing exodus to South Africa, and in 1980, 17,000 whites—approximately a tenth of the white Zimbabwean population—emigrated. Mugabe's government had pledged support for the African National Congress and other anti-apartheid forces within South Africa but did not allow them to use Zimbabwe as
28490-554: The war. In the 1980 general election , Mugabe led ZANU-PF to victory, becoming Prime Minister when the country, now renamed Zimbabwe, gained internationally recognized independence later that year. Mugabe's administration expanded healthcare and education and—despite his professed desire for a socialist society —adhered largely to mainstream economic policies. Mugabe's calls for racial reconciliation failed to stem growing white emigration, while relations with Joshua Nkomo 's Zimbabwe African People's Union (ZAPU) also deteriorated. In
28675-421: The white community, stating that despite the fact that they had faced no punishment for their past actions, they rejected racial reconciliation and "are acting in collusion with South Africa to harm our racial relations, to destroy our unity, to sabotage our economy, and to overthrow the popularly elected government I lead". Increasingly he criticised not only the militants but the entire white community for holding
28860-556: Was multilateral cooperation . Mbeki's government, and Mbeki personally, are frequently cited as the single most significant driving force behind the creation in 2001 of the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD), which aims to develop a framework for accelerating economic development and cooperation in Africa. Olivier calls Mbeki the "seminal thinker" behind NEPAD and its "principal author and articulator." According to academic Chris Landsberg, NEPAD's central principle – "African leaders holding one another accountable in exchange for
29045-568: Was Mbeki's HIV/AIDS policy. His government did not introduce a national mother-to-child transmission prevention programme until 2002, when it was mandated by the Constitutional Court , nor did it make antiretroviral therapy available in the public healthcare system until late 2003. Subsequent studies have estimated that these delays caused hundreds of thousands of preventable deaths. Mbeki himself, like his Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang , has been described as an AIDS denialist , "dissident," or sceptic. Although he did not explicitly deny
29230-659: Was Mbeki's "drafting skills" which enabled his ascendancy in the ANC and ultimately to the presidency. In 1980, Mbeki led the ANC's delegation to Zimbabwe, where the party hoped to establish relations with Robert Mugabe 's newly elected government. This was a sensitive mission, because the ANC had historically been strongly allied to the Zimbabwe African People's Union , the arch rival of Mugabe's ZANU-PF . Working primarily through Mugabe's righthand man, future Zimbabwean president Emmerson Mnangagwa , Mbeki negotiated an extraordinarily congenial agreement between ZANU-PF and
29415-463: Was a Zimbabwean revolutionary and politician who served as Prime Minister of Zimbabwe from 1980 to 1987 and then as President from 1987 to 2017. He served as Leader of the Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU) from 1975 to 1980 and led its successor political party, the ZANU – Patriotic Front (ZANU–PF), from 1980 to 2017. Ideologically an African nationalist , during the 1970s and 1980s he identified as
29600-414: Was a child, his family was separated when Govan moved alone to Ladismith for a teaching job. Mbeki has said that he was "born into the struggle ," and recalls that his childhood home was decorated with portraits of Karl Marx and Mahatma Gandhi . Indeed, Govan named him after senior South African communist Thabo Mofutsanyana . Mbeki began attending school in 1948, the same year that the National Party
29785-418: Was already seen as his most likely successor. In December 1997, the ANC's 50th National Conference elected Mbeki unopposed to succeed Mandela as ANC president. On some accounts, the election was not contested because the top leadership had prepared assiduously for the conference, lobbying and negotiating on Mbeki's behalf in the interest of unity and continuity. Pursuant to the 1999 national elections , which
29970-424: Was also an experienced diplomat, serving as the ANC's official representative in several of its African outposts. He was an early advocate for and leader of the diplomatic engagements which led to the negotiations to end apartheid . After South Africa's first democratic elections in 1994, he was appointed national deputy president. In subsequent years, it became apparent that he was Mandela's chosen successor, and he
30155-433: 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
30340-587: Was arrested on his return to Southern Rhodesia in December 1963. His trial lasted from January to March 1964, during which he refused to retract the subversive statements that he had publicly made. In March 1964 he was sentenced to 21 months' imprisonment. Mugabe was first imprisoned at Salisbury Maximum Security Prison, before being moved to the Wha Wha detention centre and then the Sikombela detention centre in Que Que . At
30525-420: Was arrested, he feared the same fate but was hidden from the authorities by Ribeiro. Ribeiro and a sympathetic nun then assisted him and Edgar Tekere in smuggling themselves into Mozambique. Mugabe remained in exile there for two years. Mozambique's Marxist President Samora Machel was sceptical of Mugabe's leadership abilities and was unsure whether to recognise him as ZANU's legitimate leader. Machel gave him
30710-531: Was born on 18 June 1942 in Mbewuleni , a small village in the former homeland of Transkei , now part of the Eastern Cape . The second of four siblings, he had one sister, Linda (born 1941, died 2003), and two brothers, Moeletsi (born 1945) and Jama (born 1948, died 1982). His parents were Epainette (died 2014), a trained teacher, and Govan (died 2001), a shopkeeper, teacher, journalist, and senior activist in
30895-654: Was born on 21 February 1924 at the Kutama Mission village in Southern Rhodesia's Zvimba District . His father, Gabriel Matibiri, was a carpenter while his mother Bona was a Christian catechist for the village children. They had been trained in their professions by the Jesuits , the Roman Catholic religious order which had established the mission. Bona and Gabriel had six children: Miteri (Michael), Raphael, Robert, Dhonandhe (Donald), Sabina , and Bridgette. They belonged to
31080-539: Was elected onto the ANC's top decision-making organ, the National Executive Committee . It was during this period that he began to ghostwrite some of Tambo's speeches and reports, and he accompanied Tambo on important occasions, such as to the infamous December 1972 meeting with Mangosuthu Buthelezi , the head of Inkatha , in London. In 1973, he helped to establish the ANC's office in Botswana, considered
31265-464: Was elected unopposed as ANC president in 1997, enabling his rise to the presidency as the ANC's candidate in the 1999 elections . While deputy president, Mbeki had been regarded as a steward of the government's Growth, Employment and Redistribution policy, introduced in 1996, and as president he continued to subscribe to relatively conservative, market-friendly macroeconomic policies. During his presidency, South Africa experienced falling public debt ,
31450-473: Was elected with a mandate to legislate apartheid . The Bantu Education Act was implemented towards the end of his school career, and in 1955 he arrived at the Lovedale Institute , an eminent mission school outside Alice , as part of the last class which would be permitted to follow the same curriculum as white students. At Lovedale, he was a year behind Chris Hani , his future colleague and rival in
31635-723: Was expanded and consolidated under his administration, was criticised precisely for benefitting only a small black elite and thereby failing to address inequality . According to academic and diplomat Gerrit Olivier , during his presidency Mbeki "succeeded in placing Africa high on the global agenda." He was known for his Pan-Africanism , having emphasised related themes both in his famous " I am an African " speech in 1996 and in his first speech to Parliament as president in June 1999, when he foregrounded his trademark ideal of an " African renaissance ." He advocated for greater solidarity among African countries and, in place of reliance on Western intervention and aid, for greater self-sufficiency for
31820-402: Was firmly opposed to forcible or manufactured regime change in Zimbabwe, and also opposed the use of sanctions. The Economist posited an "Mbeki doctrine" holding that South Africa "cannot impose its will on others, but it can help to deal with instability in African countries by offering its resources and its leadership to bring rival groups together, and to keep things calm until an election
32005-675: Was not active in any political movement. He joined a number of inter-racial groups, such as the Capricorn Africa Society , through which he mixed with both black and white Rhodesians. Guy Clutton-Brock , who knew Mugabe through this group, later noted that he was "an extraordinary young man" who could be "a bit of a cold fish at times" but "could talk about Elvis Presley or Bing Crosby as easily as politics". From 1955 to 1958, Mugabe lived in neighbouring Northern Rhodesia , where he worked at Chalimbana Teacher Training College in Lusaka . There he continued his education by working on
32190-410: Was not elected to any of the "Top Six" leadership positions. Sisulu was elected ANC deputy president, almost certainly as a compromise candidate, and trade unionist Cyril Ramaphosa was elected secretary general. According to historian Tom Lodge, Ramaphosa's election was a putsch carried out by the party's "internal wing," in defiance of the former exiles and political prisoners who had hitherto dominated
32375-571: Was officially declared ZANU President at a meeting of the party's central committee held in Chimoio . During the war, Mugabe remained suspicious of many of ZANLA's commanders and had a number of them imprisoned. In 1977 he imprisoned his former second-in-command, Wilfred Mhanda , for suspected disloyalty. After Josiah Tongogara was killed in a car accident in 1979, there were suggestions made that Mugabe may have had some involvement in it; these rumours were never substantiated. Mugabe remained aloof from
32560-566: Was opposed to the idea of a ceasefire, but under pressure from Machel he agreed to it. Mugabe signed the agreement, but felt cheated, remaining disappointed that he had never achieved a military victory over the Rhodesian forces. Returning to Salisbury in January 1980, Mugabe was greeted by a supportive crowd. He settled into a house in Mount Pleasant , a wealthy, white-dominated suburb. Machel had cautioned Mugabe not to alienate Rhodesia's white minority, warning him that any white flight after
32745-778: Was outraged by this result, lambasting white Zimbabweans for not repenting "in any way" by continuing to support Smith and other white politicians who had committed "horrors against the people of Zimbabwe". Under the new constitution, Zimbabwe's presidency was a ceremonial role with no governmental power; the first President was Canaan Banana . Mugabe had previously offered the position to Nkomo, who had turned it down in favour of becoming Minister of Home Affairs. While working together, there remained an aura of resentment and suspicion between Mugabe and Nkomo. Mugabe gave ZAPU four cabinet seats, but Nkomo demanded more. In contrast, some ZANU–PF figures argued that ZAPU should not have any seats in government, suggesting that Zimbabwe be converted into
32930-468: Was owned by black small-scale commercial farmers, and 41% was 'communal land' where 4 million people lived, often in overcrowded conditions. The Lancaster House agreement ensured that until 1990, the sale of land could only take place on a "willing seller-willing buyer" basis. The only permitted exceptions were if the land was "underutilized" or needed for a public purpose, in which case the government could compulsorily purchase it while fully compensating
33115-427: Was promoted again: he replaced Nokwe as head of DIP, and simultaneously was appointed Tambo's political secretary, an extremely influential position in which he became one of Tambo's closest advisors and confidantes. He also continued to ghostwrite for Tambo, now in a formal capacity. At DIP, his approach was encapsulated by the change he made to the department's name, replacing "propaganda" with "publicity." He eschewed
33300-680: Was released in November 1974. He moved in with his sister Sabina at her home in Highfield township. He was intent on joining the ZANU forces and taking part in the guerrilla war, recognizing that to secure dominance of ZANU he would have to take command of ZANLA. This was complicated by internal violence within the paramilitary group, predominately between members of the Manyika and Karange groups of Shona. In March 1975, Mugabe resolved to leave Rhodesia for Mozambique, ambitious to take control of ZANU's guerrilla campaign. After his friend Maurice Nyagumbo
33485-554: Was sent to Lusaka , Zambia, where the ANC-in-exile had set up its new headquarters under acting president Tambo. He was to fill the post of administrative secretary to the ANC Revolutionary Council , a body newly established to coordinate the political and military efforts of the ANC and SACP. He was later moved to the propaganda section, but continued to attend the council's meetings, and in 1975 he (again alongside Hani)
33670-474: Was the chairperson of the Non-Aligned Movement between 1999 and 2003 and the chairperson of the Group of 77 + China in 2006. He also pursued South -South solidarity in a coalition with India and Brazil under the IBSA Dialogue Forum , which was launched in June 2003 and held its first summit in September 2006. The IBSA countries together pressed for changes in the agricultural subsidy regimes of developed countries at
33855-407: Was the second-largest party in the new Parliament. But De Klerk later resigned and went into opposition with his party. A voluntary coalition government continues to exist under the new constitution (adopted in 1996), although there have been no appointments of opposition politicians to the post of deputy president since. The president is required to be a member of the National Assembly at the time of
34040-487: Was to be – as in Swaziland – the ANC's first representative to the country. Although there was some debate about whether the appointment was a signal that he had been sidelined, Gevisser says that Mbeki performed well in Lagos, establishing good relations with Olusegun Obasanjo 's regime and establishing an ANC presence to eclipse that of its rival Pan Africanist Congress (PAC). When he returned to Lusaka from Lagos in 1978, he
34225-610: Was twice chairperson of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), first from 1999 to 2000 and second, briefly, in 2008. Through these multilateral organisations and by contributing forces to various United Nations (UN) peacekeeping missions, Mbeki and his government were involved in peacekeeping initiatives in African countries including Zimbabwe, Ethiopia and Eritrea, Liberia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Burundi. Outside Africa, Mbeki
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