110+ Thabo Mbeki Quotes On Education, Visionary And Diplomatic

Thabo Mbeki is a South African statesman who served as the second post-apartheid President of South Africa from 1999 to 2008. He was the first democratically elected president of South Africa following the end of apartheid in 1994. He is known for his commitment to democracy, human rights, and reconciliation between South Africa's racial groups. Following is our collection on famous quotes by Thabo Mbeki on leadership, education, visionary.

Top 10 Thabo Mbeki Quotes

1. Gloom and despondency have never defeated adversity. Trying times need courage and resilience. Our strength as a people is not tested during the best of times.
2. When will the day come that our dignity will be fully restored, when the purpose of our lives will no longer be merely to survive until the sun rises tomorrow!
3. Our experience over the last 20 years has shown that indeed people must themselves become their own liberators. You cannot wait for somebody else to come and rescue you.
4. We should never become despondent because the weather is bad, nor should we turn triumphalist because the sun shines.
5. Many of our own people here in this country do not ask about computers, telephones and television sets. They ask - when will we get a road to our village.
6. A global human society, characterised by islands of wealth, surrounded by a sea of poverty, is unsustainable
7. Does HIV cause AIDS? Can a virus cause a syndrome? How? It can't, because a syndrome is a group of diseases resulting from acquired immune deficiency.
8. The problem is not a lack of understanding of what we are saying and doing; the problem is difference of opinion about what to do.
9. We do not accept that human society should be constructed on the basis of a savage principle of the survival of the fittest
10. The poor prey on one another because their lives offer no hope and communicate the tragic message to these human beings that they have no possibility to attain a decent standard of living.

Thabo Mbeki Short Quotes

• If we only said safe sex, use a condom, we won't stop the spread of AIDS in this country.
• Those who oppressed us described us as the Dark Continent!
• We have to continue to confront the challenge of corruption within the public service.
• Science is always inquiring.
• It is difficult to discuss... history.. it is more difficult to talk about today.. simple things…
• I don't suppose I would describe myself as a showman.
• Really, a critical matter in the public service is radically to improve the quality of management.
• None dare challenge me when i say i am an Afrikan.
• A democratic government in South Africa is not a threat to white people.
• I must say also, that we are not talking just about foreign investors.

Thabo Mbeki Quotes About Education

I don't imagine Heads of Government would ever be able to say I'm not an economist therefore I can't take decisions on matters of the economy; I'm not a soldier I can't take decisions on matters of defence; I'm not an educationist so I can't take decisions about education. — Thabo Mbeki

South Africa now needs skilled and educated people to say 'How do we manage and develop this democratic country?' — Thabo Mbeki

I would regret it if I'd failed at school and university, because if I had, I would have lacked the levels of education necessary to making a serious contribution to building South Africa. — Thabo Mbeki

I get a sense that we've all been educated into one school of thought. I'm not surprised at all to find among the overwhelming majority of scientists, are people who would hold one particular view because that's all they're exposed to. — Thabo Mbeki

I think that probably the most important thing about our education was that it taught us to question even those things we thought we knew. — Thabo Mbeki

I was very fortunate to be able to go to school and university, because many people our age couldn't complete school. This gift of education must be used in whatever ways we can to uplift the people. — Thabo Mbeki

Thabo Mbeki Quotes About People

Whoever we may be, whatever our immediate interest, however much we carry baggage from our past, however much we have been caught by the fashion of cynicism and loss of faith in the capacity of the people, let us err today and say - nothing can stop us now! — Thabo Mbeki

A matter that seems to be very clear in terms of the alternative view, is what do you expect to happen in Africa with regard to immune systems, where people are poor, subject to repeat infections and all of that. Surely you would expect their immune systems to collapse. — Thabo Mbeki

You might indeed be able to provide this money that people need to start a business, but can they run a business? This new consolidated agency [National Empowerment Fund] focuses on that matter of preparing people so that they can run business successfully. — Thabo Mbeki

Pope Benedict XVI assumes leadership at a critical time in which the world's collective wisdom and leadership including that of the religious community is most important to face up to challenges of deepening poverty and under-development afflicting many people of the world. — Thabo Mbeki

It's a big problem in South Africa up to this day: many people want to open factories, they want to invest, but then they discover that they don't have the skilled people to employ. — Thabo Mbeki

There must be public servants who are working regularly among the people. — Thabo Mbeki

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

You have to make sure that [grants] reach people by virtue of their Identity Documents. — Thabo Mbeki

It will be a comprehensive response. The ID issue is one of them. It will make sure that Home Affairs has the capacity to reach people and to make sure that the people themselves know that they have got to get these documents and where to go to get them. — Thabo Mbeki

We want the National Intelligence, we want the Police, we want the Scorpions, any other institutions, the tax people, and so on, the totality of these bodies, to get together. — Thabo Mbeki

Thabo Mbeki Quotes About View

It's very worrying at this time in the world that any point of view should be prohibited, that's banned, there are heretics that should be burned at the stake. — Thabo Mbeki

I say that why don't we bring all points of view. Sit around a table and discuss this evidence, and produce evidence as it may be, and let's see what the outcome is, which is why we are having this International panel which we are all talking about. — Thabo Mbeki

The matter of people being attracted to other countries is a permanent problem in my view, it doesn't only face South Africa. A whole lot of countries in the world are faced with this problem. — Thabo Mbeki

One of the things that became clear, and which was actually rather disturbing, was the fact that there was a view which was being expressed by people whose scientific credentials you can't question. — Thabo Mbeki

Thabo Mbeki Quotes About Africa

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

South Africa belongs to all who live in it, black and white. — Thabo Mbeki

The principal investors in the South African economy are South Africans. And this is something, I think, we should really pay attention to. — Thabo Mbeki

We will continue to count on your unwavering support and commitment to working with leaders of our continent in bringing about the desired renaissance of Africa. — Thabo Mbeki

South Africa was to evolve into the most pernicious example of the criminal practise of colonial and white minority domination. — Thabo Mbeki

We have a series of regular meetings with South African business. Big business. Black business. Agriculture. As well, of course, with the trade unions. A whole series of meetings like that which engage issues that these South African social partners need to address. — Thabo Mbeki

While the WTO negotiations will continue, there are other trade negotiations of a bilateral nature, which among other things, should help to open up these markets for South African products. — Thabo Mbeki

There is a tendency just to talk about foreign investors. Over 80 per cent of new investment in the South African economy is South African and therefore the engagement of the South African investor is also a critical part of this process. — Thabo Mbeki

For an investor who is sitting in the United States, and South Africa is very far from the United States, you need to go out to that investor to say, these are the possibilities in this particular sector. — Thabo Mbeki

The public service needs lots of people, South Africa generally, needs lots of people. — Thabo Mbeki

Thabo Mbeki Quotes About World

The concern around probable questions, which in a sense have been hidden, will grow around the world and the matter is critical, the reason we are doing all this is so we can respond correctly to what is reported to be a major catastrophe on the African continent. — Thabo Mbeki

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

We are in the process of negotiating an agreement with the United States. We will be negotiating agreements with India and China. We are in the process of negotiating an agreement with Mercosur, South America. So there are a number of these trade agreements in the major markets of the world. — Thabo Mbeki

Of course we run a very open economy, and therefore what happens in the rest of the world, in economic terms, obviously has an impact on us. — Thabo Mbeki

If you sit in a position where decisions that you take would have a serious effect on people, you can't ignore a lot of experience around the world which says this drug has these negative effects. — Thabo Mbeki

Thabo Mbeki Quotes About Drug

That surely must be a concern to anyone who decides this drug must be given to stop transmissions, again from mother to child, which is extremely costly and must be taken into account. — Thabo Mbeki

It wouldn't sit easily on one's conscience that you had been warned and there could be danger, but nevertheless you went ahead and said let's dispense these drugs. — Thabo Mbeki

Well, because lots of questions had been raised about the toxicity of the drug, which is very serious. — Thabo Mbeki

We've had a long wrangle with the pharmaceutical industry about parallel imports, and what we were saying is we want to make medicines and drugs as affordable as a possible to what is largely a poor population. — Thabo Mbeki

Thabo Mbeki Famous Quotes And Sayings

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. — Thabo Mbeki

We are not being arrogant or complacent when we are said that our country, as a united nation, has never in its entire history, enjoyed such a confluence of encouraging possibilities. — Thabo Mbeki

How many murders are committed in Gauteng, or in the Western Cape, in a month? A week? A day? An hour? But of course we are not allowed to know for sure. In close and direct imitation of his apartheid models, Selebi ensures that no statistics about crime may be published regularly in the press. — Thabo Mbeki

We can't treat the matter of black economic empowerment as just the redistribution of existing wealth. It really has to focus on new investment, on growth, on development of employment and so on and so on. — Thabo Mbeki

The issue of racism and racial prejudice. It is very, very difficult to discuss. It is difficult to discuss the issue of apartheid. Many have made the observation that it is very difficult to find anyone in SA who ever supported apartheid because everyone was opposed, it was against our will and so on. — Thabo Mbeki

The reason I joined the struggle against Apartheid was because you had this system of oppression, which affected everybody who was black. Whether you were old or young, man or woman, in a village or a town, it didn't matter. — Thabo Mbeki

It is quite easy to understand what China would need from the African continent with regards to its own economy, raw materials, oil and a market for manufactured goods. As I say it is not difficulty to understand and perfectly legitimate. There is nothing wrong with that. — Thabo Mbeki

As a consequence of the victories we have registered during our first ten years of freedom, we have laid a firm foundation for the new advances we must and will make during the next decade. — Thabo Mbeki

I think that part of the problem that arose with that legislation, is that there probably wasn't sufficient information - probably there was misinformation. I am not sure that they have looked at the legislation. — Thabo Mbeki

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

That is one of the reasons why we have raised this matter about the need to focus quite sharply on the function of local government, but also on the resourcing of local government. Because it may very well be that we say to local government, you have got to run an indigent policy. — Thabo Mbeki

Together we have travelled a long road to be where we are today. This has been a road of struggle against colonial and apartheid oppression. — Thabo Mbeki

It is also important to respect the fact that Iran is a signatory to the nuclear non-proliferation treaty, which treaty spells out the rights and obligations of signatures to the treaty and therefore that we can’t deny Iran the rights due to it as a signature of the NPT. — Thabo Mbeki

I come back to what I had said earlier: the policies might be there but are people benefiting from the policies? You do find that in many instances, though the policies exist, they are not having the necessary impact. That is a particular challenge in local government, because that is where all the services get delivered. — Thabo Mbeki

The National Empowerment Fund we established some time back. And one of the challenges was to build a strong enough asset base for it to operate in a credible manner. And we believe that it can. — Thabo Mbeki

It is critically important that Iran should not develop nuclear weapons. And that the necessary interventions need to be made by the International Atomic Energy Agency to ensure that, indeed, that does not happen, in the context of any nuclear generation of power. — Thabo Mbeki

Haiti was a French colony, but in 1804, the slaves rose up and defeated the French and formed the Republic. For the last 200 years, Haiti has had a very unfortunate history. — Thabo Mbeki

We need to do a lot of restructuring of the existing ports, particularly Durban. The separation of oversight and regulation from operations in the port, the possibility of bringing in private investors, to put in new investment to build capacity in the port. So, the restructuring of the ports will take place like that. — Thabo Mbeki

China surely must be interested in a more stable, non-antagonistic relationship with the African continent precisely because of its own needs. And therefore would have to say in our own interests, as China, it is necessary that we participate in the process of the development of the African continent. — Thabo Mbeki

We are a very big mining country and historically have been exporters of raw minerals. There is no particular reason why we should not be processing those further. — Thabo Mbeki

I am sure that it wouldn’t be in the long-term interests of China which would continue to depend on these African resources for a very long time to see the emergence of any sense of hostility animosity, tension, da da da, between itself and the African continent. — Thabo Mbeki

I know there is a lot of concern I know about plans that Iran might have to develop nuclear weapons which arises from positions that Iran took in the past when in fact it did not disclose things to the IAEA… because they were hiding something. I can understand that. — Thabo Mbeki

This is community land that belongs to particular clans, and therefore, it must go back and its administration and the determination as to what to do, must rest in the hand of the communities. That is why you have these committees, among whose members, of course, they will be traditional leaders. You will have these collectives, which must then deal with the land, the issue of communal rights. — Thabo Mbeki

The reports from the scientific world are that, there is very sadly an escalating impact of HIV and Aids in South Africa. And it’s from what I have read assuming distinct characteristics which were atypical of how this phenomenon had developed in the States and therefore this meant that we look at what it is that results in all of this, specific to our country. — Thabo Mbeki

There are black companies that are very active in the economy, that are growing and not on the basis of mergers and acquisitions, but because of putting new money into their particular companies and, therefore, their particular sectors. Indeed, if they didn't do that, they would collapse as companies. — Thabo Mbeki

As Africans, we need to share common recognition that all of us stand to lose if we fail to transform our continent. — Thabo Mbeki

You need to be able to do that to market these possibilities to these specific investors who would be interested in a sector of that kind. It's what would be normally done by anybody with regard to attracting investment to particular sectors of the economy. — Thabo Mbeki

With me, as a town clerk or city manager, there are certain things that I'm supposed to do - if I don't do them, then I don't deserve to continue in this post. — Thabo Mbeki

The matters I am talking about regarding the ports. That matter has been discussed with the unions, and agreed, and therefore there is no particular reason why there should be a problem about it. We will continue to move like that. We need the engagement of the unions in these processes. — Thabo Mbeki

There is a very long list of parties in this year's election, some of the parties I have never heard of. — Thabo Mbeki

That it is not enough to catch a criminal and get them convicted and so on, because the victim remains with the consequences of the crime. Something needs to be done. Let's complete that process, interact with civil society about this, so that we will specify what is it that we do in the context of that Charter that would then make this positive impact on people who might have been affected by crime. — Thabo Mbeki

I think anybody who knows anything about South Africa and the South African economy would know that one of the big constraints to growth and development is skills shortages. So all of us, need to come at this thing as vigorously as is possible and, of course, the private sector has the capacity to take it on board. — Thabo Mbeki

South Africa has faced many problems in the past. You would understand those problems if you understood the history of the struggle to get rid of Apartheid and the struggle to establish democracy. — Thabo Mbeki

You can't abandon people there and say, go and find a job, when you know they are not going to be able to find one, and therefore starve to death. So we have got to address that matter, but we have got to address it systematically. — Thabo Mbeki

Your developed countries are taking teachers from South Africa, they are taking nurses, because people are better paid where they are going. — Thabo Mbeki

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

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

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

As we mourn President Mandela’s passing we must ask ourselves the fundamental question - what shall we do to respond to the tasks of building a democratic, non-racial, non-sexist and prosperous South Africa, a people-centred society free of hunger, poverty, disease and inequality, as well as Africa’s renaissance, to whose attainment President Nelson Mandela dedicated his whole life? — Thabo Mbeki

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

If you look at government policy generally, what government tries to do in all instances is to make sure that we take care of all elements that might relate to a particular issue. — Thabo Mbeki

There are lots of problems in Transnet, which we are trying to sort out, but we are quite confident we will. We can't avoid the increase in the capacity of Spoornet. So, whatever problems there are in Spoornet, they must be solved. The same goes for the harbours. And the same goes for the airlines. — Thabo Mbeki

We are improving the entirety of the system. You have got to make the grants available. — Thabo Mbeki

The engagements with the International Investment Council have developed in a very interesting way. It is, again, the point I raised at the beginning. — Thabo Mbeki

If you look at the Company Register, maybe that's what we should say to that business consultant or analyst. If you look at the Company Register with the Department of Trade and Industry, one of the remarkable things that you will see over the last few years is, in fact, the growth of small and medium business, many of whom depend on these services to succeed. — Thabo Mbeki

I should also say that apart from the negotiations that are taking place within the WTO, we are ourselves involved in all manner of bilateral negotiations, or, if they are not bilateral, with the South African Customs Union and the European Union. All the member countries of the European Union have now ratified the agreement that we have with the EU and that opens up the EU market in various ways. — Thabo Mbeki

There are established processes of consultation between the Government, the parastatals and the trade unions, which have worked in the past. And I don't see any particular reason why they shouldn't work. — Thabo Mbeki

The matter of social security and these grants is to help to address the levels of poverty in the country. — Thabo Mbeki

Historically during the years of the White minority regimes, the State, the national Government held this land in trust for these communities. We said, but no, why should we do that ( return the land to the communities). We didn't say return the land to particular traditional leaders, but to the communities. — Thabo Mbeki

I am quite convinced that we need to increase the resources that go to municipalities if we want the municipalities to do the things the Constitution and the law say they must do. It can't be avoided. — Thabo Mbeki

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

You can see that there is an increase in the volume of freight that moves by air. And so, we have got to solve the problem by making sure that that is done properly. — Thabo Mbeki

A modern economy and society requires skilled people, so you need to train them. — Thabo Mbeki

The Auditor-General has been complaining year in and year out that the municipalities have not paid auditing fees. It is not because they are reluctant but they don't have the money to pay the Auditor. So, you can't say that you are throwing money at somebody who doesn't have money. Lots of the things that the municipalities can't do are because resources are not there. — Thabo Mbeki

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

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

Part of the issue around communal land, which became a matter of controversy, is that we are saying that this land must go back to communities. Not chiefs and traditional leaders. — Thabo Mbeki

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

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

Your medical documents will say Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome that is AIDS. What that means you have got this challenge of immune deficiency. Alright what causes immune deficiency? HIV. Alright. Is that all that causes immune deficiency? The medical textbooks will say there are other things that cause immune deficiency. There is also genetic immune deficiency that is a different phenomenon. — Thabo Mbeki

The law enforcement authorities have got a fairly good idea of who are these principal criminals. Who are the people, for instance, who receive the cell phones? When a young person goes and snatches a cell phone, there's someone who is sitting somewhere who receives this. Lots of this kind of crime. — Thabo Mbeki

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

Life Lessons by Thabo Mbeki

1. Thabo Mbeki taught us the importance of bridging the gap between different cultures and nations in order to achieve peace and stability.
2. He also showed us the power of education and knowledge in helping to create a better world.
3. Lastly, he highlighted the need for strong leadership and the ability to work together to create a better future for everyone.