High-ranking diplomatic visits to South Africa repeatedly attempted to persuade Mbeki to take a harder line with Robert Mugabe over violent state-sponsored attacks on political opponents and opposition movements, expropriation of white-owned farms by ZANU-PF allied " war veterans ", sanctioning against the press, and infringements on the independence of the judiciary.

Mbeki has used his position on the world stage to call for an end to global apartheid, a term he uses to describe the disparity between a small minority of rich nations and a great number of impoverished states in the world, arguing that a " global human society based on poverty for many and prosperity for a few, characterised by islands of wealth, surrounded by a sea of poverty, is unsustainable ".

The full meeting of the Commonwealth had failed in a consensus to decide on the issue, and they tasked the previous, present ( at the time ), and future leaders of Commonwealth ( respectively President Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria, John Howard of Australia, and Mbeki of South Africa ) to come to a consensus between them over the issue.

Former President of South Africa Thabo Mbeki facilitated, under the auspices of SADC, a Zimbabwean Government of Power-Sharing between ZANU-PF, the Movement for Democratic Change – Tsvangirai and the Movement for Democratic Change – Mutambara.

On 23 September 2007 President Mbeki suspended NPA Head Vusi Pikoli, allegedly because of " an irretrievable breakdown " in the relationship between Pikoli and Justice Minister Brigitte Mabandla.

** Milestone meeting is held in Dakar, Senegal between 52 mainly Afrikaans-speaking intellectuals led by Dr Frederik van Zyl Slabbert and the banned African National Congress led by Thabo Mbeki

On 24 September 2007 President Thabo Mbeki suspended Pikoli in terms of Section 12 ( 6 ) ( a ) of the National Prosecution Act 32 of 1998, saying: " This decision was taken on the basis of an irretrievable break down in the working relationship between the Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development and the NDPP.

President Mbeki suspended NPA Head Vusi Pikoli, allegedly because of " an irretrievable breakdown " in the relationship between Pikoli and Justice Minister Brigitte Mabandla.

As the year progressed, the relationship between Shaik and Zuma had attracted more attention, and by October 2000, South Africa ’ s leading corruption prosecutor, Judge Willem Heath, formally asked President Thabo Mbeki for a proclamation allowing him to investigate the arms deal.

He moved to South African club Jomo Cosmos in 1999 where he met his mentor Jomo Sono, after impressing in the friendly match between South Africa and Zimbabwe that was played to commemorate the inauguration of Thabo Mbeki as the president of South Africa.

The talks were mediated by South African President Thabo Mbeki.

* 1942 – Thabo Mbeki, South African politician, 23th President of South Africa

At the start of 2000, then President Thabo Mbeki vowed to promote economic growth and foreign investment by relaxing restrictive labour laws, stepping up the pace of privatisation, and cutting unneeded governmental spending.

Mbeki was appointed head of the ANC's information department in 1984 and then became head of the international department in 1989, reporting directly to Oliver Tambo, then President of the ANC.

In the face of laws restricting public assembly and freedom of the media, restricting campaigning by the MDC for the 2005 Zimbabwe parliamentary elections, President Mbeki was quoted as saying: I have no reason to think that anything will happen … that anybody in Zimbabwe will act in a way that will militate against the elections being free and fair.

In a leaked letter to Jacob Zuma in October 2008, just-resigned President of South Africa Thabo Mbeki alluded to the role the ANC created for her in the anti-apartheid activism:

It was disbanded on 9 July 2002 by its last chairperson, South African President Thabo Mbeki, and replaced by the African Union ( AU ).

NEPAD is a merger of two plans for the economic regeneration of Africa: the Millennium Partnership for the African Recovery Programme ( MAP ), led by Former President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa in conjunction with Former President Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria and President Abdelaziz Bouteflika of Algeria ; and the OMEGA Plan for Africa developed by President Abdoulaye Wade of Senegal.

At Mulet ’ s request, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan urged South Africa ’ s President Thabo Mbeki " to ensure that Aristide remained in South Africa.

This concept has been popularized by South African President Thabo Mbeki during his term of office, heralding the beginning of The African Renaissance, and it continues to be a key part of the post-apartheid intellectual agenda.

Deputy President Mbeki himself melded the various reforms he had discussed to a tone of optimism under the rubric " African Renaissance " in a speech in August 1998

At the handover were Ghanaian President John Kufuor, South African President Thabo Mbeki, and Mozambican President Joaquim Chissano, all representing African regional councils.

A host of local and international events influenced the currency after that, most notably the 1994 democratic election which saw it weaken to over R 3, 60 to the dollar, the election of Tito Mboweni as the new governor of the South African Reserve Bank, and the inauguration of President Thabo Mbeki in 1999 which saw it quickly slide to over R 6 to the dollar.

Along with Mbeki, the last State President, F. W.

* Photograph of Nauruan President René Harris ( at right ) at a meeting with South African President Thabo Mbeki, 4 March 2002.

Prior to the 2004 elections President Thabo Mbeki refused to sign into law Buthelezi's attempt to overhaul the Immigration laws.

However, through the Tripartite Alliance and the sitting of many SACP members on the ANC's NEC, the SACP has wielded influence from within the ANC, often serving as an ideological opposition against the presidency and socio-economic policies of Thabo Mbeki ( 1999 – 2008 ); this became most apparent with the ouster of Mbeki from the presidencies of both the party ( 2007, by vote ) and the government ( 2008, by ANC party recall ) and his eventual replacement in both offices with Jacob Zuma, who is widely seen as being more conciliatory to the ideological demands of both the SACP and COSATU.

* 1987 – Govan Mbeki is released from custody after serving 24 years of a life sentence for terrorism and treason.

Mbeki has received worldwide criticism for his AIDS stance.

Thabo Mbeki has also been criticized for responding on negative comments made about governance by accusing them of racism.

Mbeki has sometimes been characterised as remote and academic, although in his second campaign for Presidency in 2004, many observers described him as finally relaxing into a more traditional campaign mode, sometimes dancing at events and even kissing babies.

Although Mbeki did not generally make a point of befriending or courting reporters, his columns and news events often yielded good results for his administration by ensuring that his message is a primary driving force of news coverage.

Indeed, in initiating his columns, Mbeki stated his view that the bulk of South African media sources did not speak for or to the South African majority, and stated his intent to use ANC Today to speak directly to his constituents rather than through the media.

Rather than publicly criticising Mugabe's government, Mbeki chose ' quiet diplomacy ' over ' megaphone diplomacy ' - his term for the West's increasingly forthright condemnation of Mugabe's rule.

An article Also in 2000, the Johannesburg Mail & Guardian reported that in a leaked text for a speech Mbeki was to give to an ANC caucus, Mbeki claimed that the CIA and Western drug companies were secretly promoting the view that HIV causes AIDS in order to increase sales of anti-HIV drugs.

Mbeki received international recognition for his political achievements including the renaming ( at Mandela's suggestion ) of the recently opened Health building at Glasgow Caledonian University.

" When he initially moved to Australia, he had cited the South African government's lax attitude to crime in that country as a reason for the move, leading to a spat with Thabo Mbeki, who, speaking of Coetzee's novel Disgrace stated that " South Africa is not only a place of rape ".

She appeared in performances for Nelson Mandela and Thabo Mbeki and starred as Maria ( the lead role ) in West Side Story for Spier Opera Company in Cape Town.

Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, acting for President Thabo Mbeki, signed it into law on 29 November, and it became law the following day, one day before the Constitutional Court's order would otherwise have come into force.

Mbeki has mediated in difficult and complex issues on the African continent including Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo ( DRC ), Côte d ' Ivoire, and some important peace agreements.

For example, then South African President Thabo Mbeki questioned why Western leaders were so concerned about Zimbabwe while not paying the same amount of attention to far more dire African emergencies, such as civil war in the Democratic Republic of Congo.