President, ANC
Member, National Executive Committee, ANC
Member, National Working Committee, ANC
President of South Africa 

People like to identify Thabo Mbeki as an independent and original thinker, but one who remains close to the more visible leadership. His profile as a policy shaper and mediator in the movement has been built up over a lifetime of involvement. "I was born into the struggle," he says. His birth took place in Idutywa, Transkei, in June 1942. 

Both his parents were teachers and activists. His father is a university graduate and there were many books in his home which Thabo read at an early age. Govan Mbeki was a leading figure in ANC activities in the Eastern Cape. Believing that sooner or later they would be arrested, Mbeki's parents decided that family and friends would also be responsible for bringing up the children. Mbeki therefore spent long periods away from home. 

He joined the Youth League at 14 and quickly became active in student politics. After his schooling at Lovedale was interrupted by a strike in 1959, he completed his studies at home. Thereafter he moved to Johannesburg where he came under the guidance of Walter Sisulu and Duma Nokwe. 

While studying for his British A-levels he was elected secretary of the African Students' Association (ASA). He went on to study economics as a correspondence student with London University. The ASA collapsed following the arrest of many of its members, at a time when political movements were coming under increasingly severe attack from the state. Mbeki's father was arrested at Rivonia and sentenced to life imprisonment. 

He left the country in 1962 under orders from the ANC. From Tanzania he moved to Britain where he completed a Masters degree in economics at Sussex University in 1966. Remaining active in student politics, he played a prominent role in building the youth and student sections of the ANC in exile. 

Following his studies he worked at the London office with the late Oliver Tambo and Yusuf Dadoo before being sent to the Soviet Union in 1970 for military training. Later that year he arrived in Lusaka where he was soon appointed assistant secretary of the Revolutionary Council. In 1973-74 he was in Botswana holding discussions with the Botswana government about opening an ANC office there. In 1975 he was acting ANC representative in Swaziland. Appointed to the NEC in 1975, he served as ANC representative to Nigeria until 1978. 

On his return to Lusaka he became political secretary in the office of Oliver Tambo, and then director of information. From this position he played a major role in turning the international media against apartheid. His other role in the '70s was in building the ANC in Swaziland and underground structures inside the country. 

During the '80s Mbeki rose to head the department of information and publicity and co-ordinated diplomatic campaigns to involve more white South Africans in anti-apartheid activities. When delegations of sports, business and cultural representatives visited Lusaka for talks they all expressed surprise to meet a man deeply engaged in the issues they brought to the table. 

From 1989 Mbeki headed the ANC Department of International Affairs, and was a key figure in the ANC's negotiations with the former government. 

Mbeki was hand-picked by Nelson Mandela after the April 1994 general election to be the first Deputy President of the new Government of National Unity. 

At the 50th Conference of the ANC at Mafikeng, from 16-20 1997, Thabo Mbeki was elected as the new President of the African National Congress. 

Thabo Mbeki was elected President of South Africa on 14 June 1999 and was inaugurated as President on 16 June 1999. 

Personal 

Date of birth: 18 June 1942, Idutywa, Queenstown, one of four children of Govan and Epainette Mbeki 

Marital status: Married to Zanele Dlamini (1974) 

Academic Qualifications 

Attended primary school in Idutywa and Butterworth
Acquired high school education at Lovedale, Alice
Expelled from school as a result of student strikes (1959) and forced to continue studies at home
Sat for matriculation examinations at St John's High School, Umtata (1959)
Completed British "A" levels examinations (1960 and 1961)
Undertook first year economics degree as an external student with the University of London (1961 - 1962)
Master of Economics degree, University of Sussex (1966) 

Career details 

Joined ANC Youth League (ANCYL) while a student at Lovedale Institute (1956)
Involved in underground activities in the Pretoria-Witwatersrand area after the ANC was banned in 1960
Involved in mobilising the students and youth in support of the ANC call for a stay at home in protest against the creation of a Republic (1961)
Elected Secretary of the African Students Association (December 1961)
Left South Africa together with other students on instructions of the ANC (1962). Went to the then Southern Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe), the then Tanganyika (now Tanzania) and the United Kingdom to study
Continued with political activities as a university student in the UK, mobilising the international student community against apartheid
Worked for the ANC office in London (1967 - 1970). Underwent military training in the then Soviet Union during this period
Served as Assistant Secretary to the Revolutionary Council of the ANC in Lusaka (1971)
Sent to Botswana (1973). He was among the first ANC leaders to have contact with exiled and visiting members of the Black Consciousness Movement (BCM). As a result of his contact and discussions with the BCM, some of the leading members of this organisation found their way into the ranks of the ANC
The focus of his activities during this time was to consolidate the underground structures of the ANC and to mobilise the people inside South Africa
Engaged the Botswana government in discussions to open an ANC office in that country. Left Botswana (1974)
Sent to Swaziland as acting representative of the ANC. Part of his task was the internal mobilisation and the creation of underground structures
Became a member of the National Executive Committee (NEC) of the ANC (1975)
Sent to Nigeria (December 1976) as a representative of the ANC. Played a major role in assisting students from South Africa to relocate in an unfamiliar enviroment
Left Nigeria and returned to Lusaka (February 1978)
Political Secretary in the Office of the President of the ANC (1978)
Director of the Department of Information and Publicity (1984 - 1989)
Re-elected to the NEC (1985). Served as Director of Information and as Secretary for Presidential Affairs
Member of the ANC 's political and military council
Member of the delegation that met South African business community led by the Chairman of Anglo American, Gavin Relly, at Mfuwe, Zambia (1985)
Led a delegation of the ANC to Dakar, Senegal, where talks were held with a delegation from the Institute for a Democratic Alternative for South Africa (Idasa) (1987)
Led the ANC delegation which held secret talks with the South African government from 1989 and which led to agreements about the unbanning of the ANC and the release of political prisoners
Part of the delegation which engaged the government in "talks about talks". He participated in the Groote Schuur and Pretoria deliberations, which resulted in the agreements which became known as the Groote Schuur and Pretoria Minutes (1990)
Participated in all subsequent negotiations leading to the adoption of the interim Constitution for the new South Africa
Elected chairperson of the ANC (1993). The election to this post meant succeeding the late former President and chairperson of the ANC, OR Tambo, with whom he had a close working relationship over the years
Executive Deputy President of the South African Government of National Unity (May 1994 - June 1999)
Elected President of the African National Congress, 18 December 1997
Inaugurated as President of South Africa, 16 June 1999 

With acknowledgements to the Office of the Deputy Executive President and the ANC Website. 

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 Personal Profile : Thabo Mbeki

Family Name : Mbeki
Given Name : Thabo M.
Dates : b. 18 Jun 1942
Gender : Male
Country : South Africa

Positions

Chairman - Non-Aligned Movement (16 Jun 1999 - ?)
President - Government of South Africa (Dec 1997 -)
President - African National Congress (1997 - )
First Deputy President - Government of South Africa (1994 - 1997)
National Chairman - African National Congress (1993 - 1994)
Head, Department of International Affairs - African National Congress (1989 - ?)
Director for Information, and Secretary for Presidential Affairs - African National Congress (1985 - 1989)
Member, National Executive Committee - African National Congress (1975 - ?)

People like to identify Thabo Mbeki as an independent and original thinker, but one who remains close to the more visible leadership. His profile as a policy shaper and mediator in the movement has been built up over a lifetime of involvement. "I was born into the struggle," he says. His birth took place in Idutywa, Transkei, in June 1942.

Both his parents were teachers and activists. His father is a university graduate and there were many books in his home which Thabo read at an early age. Govan Mbeki was a leading figure in ANC activities in the Eastern Cape. Believing that sooner or later they would be arrested, Mbeki's parents decided that family and friends would also be responsible for bringing up the children. Mbeki therefore spent long periods away from home.

He joined the Youth League at 14 and quickly became active in student politics. After his schooling at Lovedale was interrupted by a strike in 1959, he completed his studies at home. Thereafter he moved to Johannesburg where he came under the guidance of Walter Sisulu and Duma Nokwe.

While studying for his British A-levels he was elected secretary of the African Students' Association (ASA). He went on to study economics as a correspondence student with London University. The ASA collapsed following the arrest of many of its members, at a time when political movements were coming under increasingly severe attack from the state. Mbeki's father was arrested at Rivonia and sentenced to life imprisonment.

He left the country in 1962 under orders from the ANC. From Tanzania he moved to Britain where he completed a Masters degree in economics at Sussex University in 1966. Remaining active in student politics, he played a prominent role in building the youth and student sections of the ANC in exile.

Following his studies he worked at the London office with the late Oliver Tambo and Yusuf Dadoo before being sent to the Soviet Union in 1970 for military training. Later that year he arrived in Lusaka where he was soon appointed assistant secretary of the Revolutionary Council. In 1973-74 he was in Botswana holding discussions with the Botswana government about opening an ANC office there. In 1975 he was acting ANC representative in Swaziland. Appointed to the NEC in 1975, he served as ANC representative to Nigeria until 1978.

On his return to Lusaka he became political secretary in the office of Oliver Tambo, and then director of information. From this position he played a major role in turning the international media against apartheid. His other role in the '70s was in building the ANC in Swaziland and underground structures inside the country.

During the '80s Mbeki rose to head the department of information and publicity and co-ordinated diplomatic campaigns to involve more white South Africans in anti-apartheid activities. When delegations of sports, business and cultural representatives visited Lusaka for talks they all expressed surprise to meet a man deeply engaged in the issues they brought to the table.

From 1989 Mbeki headed the ANC Department of International Affairs, and was a key figure in the ANC's negotiations with the former government.

Mbeki was hand-picked by Nelson Mandela after the April 1994 general election to be the first Deputy President of the new Government of National Unity. After the National Party withdrew from the Government of National Unity in June 1996, Thabo Mbeki became the sole Deputy President.

At the African National Congress 50th National Conference in Mafikeng in December 1997, Thabo Mbeki became the new President of the African National Congress.

With acknowledgement to the ANC Website and Contemporary Africa Database.

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Personal Profile : Thabo Mbeki

To most of the world, Thabo Mbeki is better known as Nelson Mandela's successor than by his own name. To South Africans, however, he is the natural choice to lead the country after their revered leader steps down.

On June 2, 1999, Mbeki, the pragmatic deputy president of South Africa and leader of the African National Congress, was elected president in a landslide, having already assumed many of Mandela's governing responsibilities shortly after Mandela won South Africa's first democratic election in 1994.

From Radical-in-Exile to the Presidency

Mbeki was born in the Transkei region on June 18, 1942. His parents were teachers and members of the South African Communist Party, one of the leading anti-apartheid forces in South Africa. His father, Govan, was arrested with Mandela in 1964 for their political work.

Unlike Mandela and his generation of ANC leaders who were imprisoned, Mbeki is part of the generation of ANC leaders who spent the last decades of the apartheid era in exile. He began his tenure with the ANC Youth League at age 14. When the ANC was banned in 1962, Mbeki went into exile and continued his education. He received military training in Moscow and served as an ANC representative in several African countries before taking a place at the ANC headquarters in exile in Lusaka, Zambia.

Post-Apartheid, Post-Mandela

Mbeki's challenges as president include continuing the difficult work of transforming South Africa into a stable, more equitable society, without enjoying his predecessor's reputation as one of the world's most respected and admired leaders. Mbeki also faces formidable economic and social challenges:

40 percent of South Africa's blacks are unemployed, and 61 percent live below the poverty level. (Only about 1 percent of whites live in poverty.)

Crime is rampant - South Africa's rape and murder rates are among the highest in the world.

The South African economy suffered when the Asian markets crashed, and the economic downturn has deterred foreign investment.

Mbeki has said he plans to address these economic challenges with a free-market economic policy to build the country's infrastructure and encourage foreign investors.

With acknowledgements to Paul Evenson, Beth Rowen and www.infoplease.com.

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The Thabo Mbeki Story

Part One : The Family Man

On 18 June 1942, Thabo Mbeki was born in Mbewuleni, in the Transkei. His grandparents were Christians and prosperous farmers; his parents teachers and communists. He went into exile in 1962, a year before his father's arrest. On June 2 he will be elected President of South Africa. His story is a story of South Africa, of the 20th century.

Part Two : The Chess Player

On the wall of Thabo Mbeki's study at Highstead, his home on the Groote Schuur estate in Cape Town, is a photograph. A group of young, well-dressed men and women advance in an exhilarating "V" towards the camera, their triumph at having arrived safely in exile captured by the silvery hyperreality of the print, as if black people have found themselves inexplicably in some grand, '50s Hollywood epic

Part Three : The 60's Anti-hero

Thabo Mbeki came of age in Europe not in the era of Winston Churchill, but in the era of anti-heroism, of "New Left" rebellion against authority, of miniskirts, existentialism and student uprisings

Part Four : The Bag Carrier

'We have now arrived at the moment when we go back to work," said Thabo Mbeki at the conclusion of his victory speech at Gallagher Estate, in Midrand, on Thursday afternoon. Almost wilfully out of key with the jubilant supporters filling the hall, it was his purest statement yet of anti-populism: there was no wife at his side, no rah-rah, no triumphalism - just a clear recapitulation of his policies and a sober, authoritative confidence.

Part Five : The Deal-maker

When Thabo Mbeki and Chris Hani travelled together to Moscow in 1988 to take a short holiday, they were asked, separately, by the Soviet expert on Southern Africa, Vladimir Shubin: "When will you win?" Hani replied: "Ten years more." Mbeki said: "We shall be home in 1990."

Part Six : The Chief

Mbeki's assumption of the presidency has been driven by his determination to "play the man I am". It is evident in his dogged anti-populism; in his refusal to spin the media or play to the crowd. It was evident in his inaugural address on Wednesday, which did not for a moment jettison Mbekiesque lyrical polemic in favour of something more pompous and robust.

With acknowledgements to Mark Gevisser and The Sunday Times.

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