Thabo Mbeki - The African Mirror

“Put the Sudanese people first, silence the guns, and seek a negotiated end to this needless war.”

SUDAN is no stranger to humanitarian crises. Indeed, its recent history has been punctuated by episodes of drought, famine, and war-induced starvation. But never before have we witnessed a crisis at this scale. The African and international response to this disaster has been woefully inadequate. However, as all of us know, the African Union and the United Nations have a history of engagement in humanitarian crises in Sudan and in seeking to end violence against civilians. As long ago as 1989, the United Nations set up its first-ever humanitarian operation that crossed the frontline of an active war, to bring…

Sep

2023

“Many of the metrics show that South Africa is in steep decline!”

IN an article entitled ‘State of the Nation | SA coming apart at the seams? We need to tread carefully’, published earlier this year in March, the senior News24 journalist, Pieter du Toit wrote: “South Africa has always been a country beset by instability, injustice and inherent tension…If you look at our history of, say, the last 150 years, there really have been very few decades of relative calm and stability which saw the country strain forward in any meaningful way… “Our current malaise should therefore be considered against the backdrop of what this country is, and the citizens who…

Jul

2023

MME SALLY MOTLANA, farewell to an outstanding South African heroine

NOT for the first time, the cadres of Umkhonto we Sizwe borrowed a hymn and transformed it into a liberation song. And so they sang with great passion about the day they will report to their Commander: Nxa e bizwa amagama amaqhawe,ngobe lam ngolifica likhona;Koba njani sesihlezi noTambo,Sesimtshela ngamaBhul egingqika? When the role of the heroes and heroines is called, Will my name feature among these;How will we feel the day we sit with Tambo,And tell him of the enemy biting the dust? We meet here today to say farewell to one who I am absolutely certain never doubted that…

Jun

2023

“UNISA must become a truly African University in the service of humanity”

I believe that this occasion is indeed unique because I can think of no event that occurred 150 years ago in our country, in 1873, other than the birth of UNISA, which would be celebrated by all the people of South Africa together. Recently, I came across a Diary entitled ‘What We Did in South Africa in 1873’ by a British citizen, Edmund Byron. Concerning what brought him to South Africa, Mr Byron wrote: ‘For some time past I had been desirous of making a short excursion into the interior of South Africa, partly with a view of seeing something…

Jul

2022

South Africa’s Thabo Mbeki at 80: admired on the continent more than at home

THABO Mbeki, who succeeded Nelson Mandela as South Africa’s second post-apartheid president, celebrated his 80th birthday on 18 June 2022. Following Mandela’s era of multiracial and multicultural rainbowism, Mbeki had to squarely address the challenges of acute inequality and the numerous grievances of the black majority caused by colonialism and apartheid. This was tough work with no easy solutions. Author SANYA OSHA, Senior Research Fellow, Institute for Humanities in Africa, University of Cape Town Mbeki was born in what is now the Eastern Cape province to fairly educated and politically conscious parents – Epainette, a schoolteacher, and Govan, a contemporary…

Jul

2022

Thabo Mbeki’s moving tribute to Kenneth “KK” Kaunda

I had the great privilege of spending almost two decades in this great African city and country, constantly exposed to President Kaunda’s leadership. I am therefore acutely aware of the reality that I will be speaking today of an outstanding African patriot who was to the end of his life my own leader. Author Thabo Mbeki A few days after President Kaunda passed away, on 26 June 2021, one Emmanuel Mensah-Abludo, caused the publication in the Nigerian newspaper, Premium Times, of an Obituary entitled “Kenneth Kaunda: The last African Liberation Giant goes home”. The Obituary said: “Barely a week ago,…

Jun

2021

The ANC needs a genuine renewal and refocuses in order to achieve the socio-economic transformation of society

THABO MBEKI AN outstanding African patriot and freedom fighter, our irreplaceable and beloved leader, Xhamela, Walter Sisulu, passed away on May 5, 2003 aged 91 years. Twelve days later, on 17 May, I was honoured to deliver the Funeral Oration as we were about to lay to rest his mortal remains at the end of a solemn and dignified Official Funeral. I began that Oration in these words: “Our country, and nature herself, have been in mourning since that fateful day, the 5th of May, when Walter Sisulu ceased to breathe. “While he lived, there were many in our country…

May

2021

‘Today it feels good to be an African’

THABO MBEKI I am an African. I owe my being to the hills and the valleys, the mountains and the glades, the rivers, the deserts, the trees, the flowers, the seas and the ever-changing seasons that define the face of our native land. My body has frozen in our frosts and in our latter day snows. It has thawed in the warmth of our sunshine and melted in the heat of the midday sun. The crack and the rumble of the summer thunders, lashed by startling lightening, have been a cause both of trembling and of hope. The fragrances of…

May

2021