Latest Thabo Mbeki Quotes from Interviews

Quotes about:

• I don't suppose I would describe myself as a showman.

  Thabo Mbeki

  Describe Myself

  Source: www.nelsonmandela.org

• Do you know what the largest single cause of death in South Africa is? The largest single cause of death is what in the medical statistics is called external causes and that is violence in the society. For instance I've seen figures that say that if you take the male age cohort from16 to 45 years, 54% of the people who die in that age cohort die from external causes.

  Thabo Mbeki

  Years, People, Age

  Source: www.nelsonmandela.org

• I have absolutely no problem with the press criticising policies and the things that we do, the things that we say.

  Thabo Mbeki

  Problem, Policy, No Problem

  Source: www.nelsonmandela.org

• There is a land problem in Zimbabwe, there is a need land for redistribution but it must be handled different, without violence, without conflict, within the context of the law, bearing in mind the interests of all Zimbabweans both black and white. It's necessary that the Zimbabwean government to respond positively to those sorts of messages.

  Thabo Mbeki

  Black And White, Government, Law

  Source: www.nelsonmandela.org

• What is the worst, is that you will have the meltdown of Zimbabwe that the IMF is talking about. And indeed what you will have is growing unemployment in Zimbabwe, growing impoverishment among the people, growing social conflict. And I think that is the worst sort of outcome, that collapse of Zimbabwe certainly would have a much, much worse effect on the region than mere image.

  Thabo Mbeki

  Thinking, Talking, Zimbabwe

  Source: www.nelsonmandela.org

• If we don't move forward with regard to creating a non-racial society in South Africa and we allow this legacy of apartheid to persist, these divisions between black and white in wealth and income and so on, in the future you would indeed have an ugly upheaval.

  Thabo Mbeki

  Moving, Black And White, Creating

  Source: www.nelsonmandela.org

• A democratic government in South Africa is not a threat to white people.

  Thabo Mbeki

  Government, White, People

  Source: www.nelsonmandela.org

• The matter of who governs Zimbabwe is a matter that is in the hands of the people of Zimbabwe. The matter of who governs the people of South Africa is in the hands of the people of South Africa.

  Thabo Mbeki

  Hands, Zimbabwe, People

  Source: www.gov.za

• We are quite convinced, and we say this to the Palestinians, that violence is not going to solve the problem of Israel and the Middle East. We say that to the Israelis. We say it to the Palestinians.

  Thabo Mbeki

  Israel, Middle East, Violence

  Source: www.gov.za

• We would take the same position as the majority of the world about this, including this issue where Prime Minister [Ariel] Sharon made a commitment to pull Israeli troops out of Gaza.

  Thabo Mbeki

  Commitment, Issues, Troops

  Source: www.gov.za

• Clearly, we are very, very concerned about the situation, for instance, that has been going on in Gaza.

  Thabo Mbeki

  Situation, Gaza, Instance

  Source: www.gov.za

• We differ with the Israeli Government about a number of things, and they know that. In the past, I have discussed with Prime Minister [Ariel] Sharon these issues. The fact that we differ about something or the other shouldn't be a matter of strain.

  Thabo Mbeki

  Past, Government, Numbers

  Source: www.gov.za

• We are very keen to see that nobody gets ill-treated or abused.

  Thabo Mbeki

  Ill, Treated

  Source: www.gov.za

• There must be no abuse of people and they did ask that the South Africa Government should give them whatever support they needed to make sure that they have a proper legal process, proper detention, no abuse of people during interrogation and all of that. And so, we agreed.

  Thabo Mbeki

  Government, Giving, People

  Source: www.gov.za

• I must say, with regard to Equatorial Guinea, the Government of Equatorial Guinea, as soon as they had arrested these people, sent a delegation here to say they are going to charge them because they have got sufficient information to say these people were planning to remove the Government of Equatorial Guinea by force.

  Thabo Mbeki

  Government, People, Information

  Source: www.gov.za

• We have been engaging the Government of Swaziland for some time on this issue of the democratization of Swaziland. In particular, I had asked the Deputy President to engage the Government on this and, indeed, he has. We will continue to do this, because we do think that, as has been communicated to the Government of Swaziland, that Swaziland must go through this democratization process, a constitution-making process in which they have been engaged for some time, and really seek a national consensus about it.

  Thabo Mbeki

  Thinking, Government, Issues

  Source: www.gov.za

• I don't think there would be many examples of South Africa pushing its weight around the African Continent. I don't think the facts would substantiate that argument.

  Thabo Mbeki

  Thinking, Would Be, Weight

  Source: www.gov.za

• We would continue to handle our relations with the rest of the Continent with that kind of sensitivity.

  Thabo Mbeki

  Kind, Relation, Sensitivity

  Source: www.gov.za

• Our troops are in Burundi. We were requested by African countries who said, look, the United Nations is not moving on this matter, can you people deploy people, so we can move Burundi forward.

  Thabo Mbeki

  Country, Moving, People

  Source: www.gov.za

• We were asked to host the Pan African Parliament and we agreed to this.

  Thabo Mbeki

  Host, Parliament

  Source: www.gov.za

• We do not have a South African as a member of the African Commission. The President of the Commission comes from Mali, the Deputy comes from Rwanda and then we have got all these other members, ordinary commissioners. There is no South African there. And the reason, again, for that is not because we didn't have South Africans who are competent.

  Thabo Mbeki

  President, Ordinary, Reason

  Source: www.gov.za

• A number of African countries came to us and said, we request that South Africa should not field a candidate, because so many other African countries wanted to, and, in any case, South Africa would continue to play a role in terms of building the African Union, and so on. And they actually said, please don't field a candidate, and we didn't. As I have said, it is not because we didn't have people who are competent to serve in these positions.

  Thabo Mbeki

  Country, Play, Numbers

  Source: www.gov.za

• As I said, the matter of the Pan African Parliament was raised with us by other African countries who said we should host.

  Thabo Mbeki

  Country, Matter, Host

  Source: www.gov.za

• Certainly the Government has tried to handle the matter of our relations with the rest of the Continent in a very sensitive manner.

  Thabo Mbeki

  Government, Matter, Sensitive

  Source: www.gov.za

• What moved us was not so much what would it do for South Africa, but there has been a great keenness on the Continent that the location of the Pan African Parliament must add to its credibility. And, so we said, fine, it's a contribution to this process of the democratisation of the African Continent.

  Thabo Mbeki

  Add, Location, Keenness

  Source: www.gov.za