This book explores Thabo Mbeki from an ideological perspective. Is there a central strand of thinking that informs his politics and his policy-making? It is of great significance how Mbeki builds, fortifies and interacts with his core base and his most important constituencies, especially in and around the ANC-led ruling alliance. It argues that it is important to understand Mbeki in order to grasp how the South African government operates post-1999.

As a spokesman for a country, a continent and the developing world, Thabo Mbeki played a crucial role in world politics, but to many people he remained an enigma throughout his presidency. Is this simply because he was a secretive man, or were there complicated political factors at play? Who was the real Mbeki? In this book, multiple-award-winning journalist William Mervin Gumede chronicles Mbeki’s spectacular rise to dominate Africa’s oldest liberation movement. He explores the complex position that Mbeki occupied – following in Nelson Mandela’s footsteps, holding together an alliance with deep ideological differences, and ruling an intensely divided country. Revealing the political and personal tensions behind the scenes, Gumede explains how Mbeki sought to mould the ANC into his image through tight control, and exposes the intrigues behind the battle for succession. Covering Mbeki’s attempts to modernise the economy and kick-start an African Renaissance, and investigating his controversial stance on issues from AIDS to Zimbabwe, the book offers invaluable insights into the arcane machinations behind political decisions that touch the lives of millions every day.

This is an unconventional, contemporary biography of Thabo Mbeki, the current South African President, with a strong journalistic slant, focusing on representations in the media, and how media images of him have changed over time. It contains press features and articles on Mbeki, political cartoons, and transcriptions of interviews he has given over the years, including his testimony with Oliver Tambo before the Foreign Affairs Committee on the necessity for economic sanctions in 1985; and on the period as Deputy President, and President-in-waiting from 1995. As a whole, the work emphasises Mbeki as a politician working within the tradition of the ANC, and as a pragmatist. It focuses on his leadership in the context of his society; his race and identity politics; and his handling of the Zimbabwean land and the South African HIV/AIDS crises.

This book explores Thabo Mbeki from an ideological perspective. Is there a central strand of thinking that informs his politics and his policy-making? It is of great significance how Mbeki builds, fortifies and interacts with his core base and his most important constituencies, especially in and around the ANC-led ruling alliance. It argues that it is important to understand Mbeki in order to grasp how the South African government operates post-1999.

Profiles the life and career of the president of South Africa.

A gripping social history of South Africa's past and future and beautifully narrated by one of Africa's most esteemed journalists, From Struggle to Liberation sheds light on the future of the nation under a new regime. With unprecedented access to Thabo Mbeki and the top brass in the African National Congress, Mark Gevisser weaves a nuanced portrait of the black experience under apartheid. Revelations about the current president and the politics that continue to shape South Africa include: - Thabo Mbeki's difficult relationship with his own political activist and largely absent father Govan Mbeki, who was imprisoned on Robben Island with Nelson Mandela. - How the death of his son Kwanda in the diamond mines and the murder of his brother Jama directly affected his leadership and will continue to shape the governance of Africa for years to come. - The reasons behind Mbeki's puzzling refusal to admit that the HIV virus causes AIDS, which in South Africa claims 800 lives per day, and his support of corrupt governments such as Zimbabwe's. - Inside rivalry between Thabo Mbeki and Jacob Zuma, the populist leader destined to take over as president in 2009. This accessible account of a monumental period in world history is the definitive look at contemporary South Africa.

This book brings together 42 speeches by Deputy President Thabo Mbeki, most of which were delivered after the elections of April 1994. These speeches reflect the remarkable consistency and logic in Mbeki's thoughts on issues such as socio-economic justice, the alleviation of poverty, the opening up of opportunities, the need for development, and the achievement of reconciliation through transformation - all of which are recurrent themes throughout his speeches. Coupled with Mbeki's vision for South Africa is his devotion to, and identification with the African continent, and his dream of an African renaissance.