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 been a notably powerful figure in African politics, positioning South Africa as a regional power broker and also promoting the idea that African political conflicts should be solved by Africans.

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.

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 ".

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.

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.

Despite its lack of scientific acceptance, HIV / AIDS denialism has had a significant political impact, especially in South Africa under the presidency of Thabo Mbeki.

TAC has been credited with forcing the reluctant government of former South African President Thabo Mbeki to begin making antiretroviral drugs available to South Africans.

However, he has vigorously opposed the non-mainstream medical views promoted by former President Thabo Mbeki and other senior ANC members.

Being openly critical of the apartheid system during that era, both at home and abroad, he has recently been quoted by President Thabo Mbeki as the man who called upon the Apartheid leadership to " do something brave " and create partnership with the black majority in the ' 80s.

* 31 January – Thabo Mbeki, the President of South Africa, has a narrow escape when he is nearly hit by a car shortly after the African Union heads-of-state summit in Abuja, Nigeria.

During her many trips to South Africa, she has received awards and recognition from former President Nelson Mandela and served on the Texas Host Committee for the visit of President, Thabo Mbeki.

She has given recitals for Presidents Thabo Mbeki and Nelson Mandela.

* South Africa-President Thabo Mbeki has condemned the series of explosions on London's transport system: " As South Africa, we join the rest of the international community in condemning any acts of terrorism ".

Zuma, in response to the ANC, said that " President Thabo Mbeki has taken a decision regarding my presence in government and cabinet.

The talks were mediated by South African President Thabo Mbeki.

His parents were both teachers and activists in a rural area of ANC strength, and Mbeki describes himself as " born into the struggle "; a portrait of Karl Marx sat on the family mantelpiece, and a portrait of Mohandas Gandhi was on the wall.

" A news article pointed out that this was an expression of pride, explaining, " For Govan Mbeki, a son was a mere biological appendage ; to be called a comrade, on the other hand, was the highest honour.

Mbeki used his weekly column in the ANC newsletter ANC Today, to produce discussions on a variety of topics.

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.

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.

On 5 February 2006 Mbeki said in an interview with SABC television that Zimbabwe had missed a chance to resolve its political crisis in 2004 when secret talks to agree on a new constitution ended in failure.

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

* Mbeki warns on China-Africa ties

:" There was no surprise in the fact that Mandela, Sisulu, Mbeki, Motsoaledi, Mlangeni, and Goldberg were found guilty on all four counts.

On 26 June 1980 the Secretary General of the African National Congress, Alfred Nzo, announced the conferring of the Isitwalandwe Medal, the ANC's highest honour, on Govan Mbeki.

Mbeki was not present to receive the award, because he was serving a life imprisonment sentence on Robben Island.

Govan Mbeki was released from custody after serving 24 years in the Robben Island prison on 5 November 1987.

However, when Coetzee won his Nobel Prize, Mbeki congratulated him " on behalf of the South African nation and indeed the continent of Africa ".

Thabo Mbeki was elected president ( unopposed ) by the new Assembly on 14 June 1999, succeeding Nelson Mandela.

The official opening by President Thabo Mbeki took place during the inauguration ceremony on 10 November 2005.

Although the Cabinet voted to reaffirm that South African AIDS policy is based on the evidence that HIV causes AIDS, former President Thabo Mbeki continued to support the AIDS denialist position, as did his Minister of Health, Manto Tshabalala-Msimang.

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.

The atrocity was reportedly condemned strongly by South African president Thabo Mbeki and Winnie Mandela, among others, who openly spoke in favour of Marike de Klerk.

On 15 September 2008, the leaders of the 14-member Southern African Development Community witnessed the signing of the power-sharing agreement, brokered by South African leader Thabo Mbeki.

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

* 1945 – Moeletsi Mbeki, Political and economic commentator, South African economist

In December 1961, Mbeki was elected secretary of the African Students ' Association.

In 1985, Mbeki was a member of a delegation that began meeting secretly with representatives of the South African business community, and in 1989, he led the ANC delegation that conducted secret talks with the South African government.

Mbeki, as an ANC insider and while president, was a major force behind the continued neoliberal structure of the South African economy.

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.

** Thabo Mbeki, South African politician

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.

In April 1997, Mbeki articulated the elements that comprise the African Renaissance: social cohesion, democracy, economic rebuilding and growth, and the establishment of Africa as a significant player in geo-political affairs.

In June 1997, an advisor to Mbeki, Vusi Maviembela, wrote that the African Renaissance was the " third moment " in post-colonial Africa, following decolonization and the outbreak of democracy across the continent during the early 1990s.

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

Mbeki proposes doing this by, among other things, encouraging education and the reversal of the " brain drain " of African intellectuals.