Thabo Mbeki Quotes
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.
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.
We should never become despondent because the weather is bad, nor should we turn triumphalist because the sun shines.
As Africans, we need to share common recognition that all of us stand to lose if we fail to transform our continent.
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!
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.
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.
A global human society, characterised by islands of wealth, surrounded by a sea of poverty, is unsustainable
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.
We do not accept that human society should be constructed on the basis of a savage principle of the survival of the fittest
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.
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.
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.
South Africa now needs skilled and educated people to say 'How do we manage and develop this democratic country?'
The people of Zimbabwe have a responsibility to ensure that the government that they elected behaves properly.
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.
The principal investors in the South African economy are South Africans. And this is something, I think, we should really pay attention to.
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.
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.
As I said, the matter of the Pan African Parliament was raised with us by other African countries who said we should host.
The matter of who governs Zimbabwe is a matter that is in the hands of the people of Zimbabwe.
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.
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.
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.
For the first time in human history, society has the capacity, the knowledge and the resources to eradicate poverty
South Africa was to evolve into the most pernicious example of the criminal practise of colonial and white minority domination.
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.
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
We very constantly run this campaign to encourage people to go and get Identity Documents, to register, and so on. We'll continue to do that.
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.
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.
It is difficult to discuss... history.. it is more difficult to talk about today.. simple things…
Those communal areas have got elected municipalities, which have got to do their work as, as fully, democratically elected municipal councils.
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.
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.
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.
Procurement policies of all of the major parastatals, it is a very important element of that processes that will continue.
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.
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.
Really, a critical matter in the public service is radically to improve the quality of management.