Thabo Mbeki

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Mandela Might Be Going Home
Mandela Might Be
Going Home

Mandela Might Be Going Home

Former president Mbeki thinks discharge from hospital is imminent

(Newser) - A former president of South Africa says he expects Nelson Mandela to soon be discharged from the hospital to recuperate at home. Thabo Mbeki was speaking at a memorial service for another ANC leader when he said that he was "quite certain" Mandela would be going home, reports South...

Mbeki Tries to Break Election Standoff in Ivory Coast

Borders are set to reopen today

(Newser) - Thabo Mbeki arrived in the Ivory Coast yesterday, in an attempt to break the political stalemate following the country’s disputed presidential election . The ex-South African president and African Union mediator met with both candidates, and told reporters that the conversation had been positive, according to the Wall Street Journal...

South Africa Will Expand AIDS Fight

In policy shift, country will ramp up testing and drugs for babies

(Newser) - South Africa said today it will expand HIV testing and treatment for pregnant women and babies, an eagerly awaited shift in a country that has more people living with HIV than any other. Today's speech by President Jacob Zuma on World AIDS Day was viewed as a turning point for...

$5M African Leadership Prize Goes to ... Nobody

Committee passes over all three candidates, doesn't award $5M to any

(Newser) - Nobody has won this year's $5 million Ibrahim Prize for Achievement in African Leadership, the committee responsible for picking a winner announced today. That’s an enormous snub to the people eligible for the award, who include former heads of state Thabo Mbeki of South Africa, Olusegun Obasanjo of Nigeria,...

ANC Defectors Launch New South African Party

Congress of the People aims to be 'non-racial' in still-divided nation

(Newser) - A former defense minister is the first head of a new South African political party made up mainly of defectors from the African National Congress, the party of Nelson Mandela, the BBC reports. Called Congress of the People, or COPE, the movement spearheaded by Mosiuoa Lekota formed around dissatisfaction with...

Mbeki AIDS Denial Killed 365K in South Africa

Study blames Mbeki for keeping antiretrovirals from citizens

(Newser) - South Africa's failure to provide antiretroviral drugs to AIDS patients has cost 365,000 lives,  a new Harvard study finds. The report places the blame for the deaths with ousted president Thabo Mbeki, whose denial of AIDS' viral cause led Africa's richest country to ignore its sick citizens while...

Zimbabwe Bars Carter, Annan, Mandela's Wife

Ex-prez, Annan aimed to work on humanitarian crisis

(Newser) - Zimbabwe has denied Jimmy Carter, former UN chief Kofi Annan, and the wife of Nelson Mandela entry to the country to review its humanitarian crisis, Reuters reports. Even the support of former South African president Thabo Mbeki, who's been trying to mediate an end to the ongoing political stalemate, wasn’...

S. Africa's Ruling Party Splits

Historic convention heralds birth of new party

(Newser) - The African National Congress has run South Africa essentially unchallenged since the fall of apartheid, but that may have changed forever this weekend as 6,400 delegates gathered to celebrate the birth of a new opposition party. A chunk of lawmakers loyal to Thabo Mbeki is breaking way from the...

Mugabe Snubs Opposition, Keeps Key Ministries

Unity government already in trouble

(Newser) - Zimbabwe's new unity government already is in jeopardy, and it hasn't started governing yet. Robert Mugabe handed out government ministries yesterday and kept the meaningful ones, including the army and police, for his own party, the BBC reports. The opposition MDC "totally and absolutely rejects this nonsense," said...

Schism Brewing in South Africa's Ruling Party

Angry Mbeki loyalists planning to break from ANC

(Newser) - Thabo Mbeki’s top officials are planning to break away from the party that deposed him, the Guardian reports. Mosiuoa Lekota, who spent nearly a decade as Mbeki’s defense minister, today announced a conference that he sees as a step on the path to “divorce” from the African...

Interim Prez Takes Reins in South Africa

Motlanthe viewed as able to ease tensions within ruling party

(Newser) - Kgalema Motlanthe was sworn in as South Africa’s caretaker president today after winning three-quarters of a parliamentary ballot, the BBC reports. The left-leaning intellectual is seen as someone who can ease rifts between supporters of Jacob Zuma, head of the African National Congress party head, and former President Thabo...

South Africa in Crisis as Cabinet Walks Out With Mbeki

After Mbeki's ouster, 10 resignations could trouble economy

(Newser) - Most of South Africa's cabinet, including the powerful and respected finance minister, resigned today following the ouster of President Thabo Mbeki over the weekend. The walkout could be a devastating blow to the economic stability of Africa's most powerful nation, and to the new administration expected to take over on...

Zuma Loyalist Will Become South African President

Motlanthe will serve as caretaker ahead of 2009 elections

(Newser) - The African National Congress has chosen Kgalema Motlanthe, a moderate intellectual and the ruling party's No. 2, to be South Africa's caretaker president, Reuters reports. He will fill the job vacated by Thabo Mbeki, who resigned this weekend after the party demanded he step down. Motlanthe is a loyalist of...

Mbeki Leaves Mixed Legacy
 Mbeki Leaves 
 Mixed Legacy 
Analysis

Mbeki Leaves Mixed Legacy

How aloof leader will be remembered

(Newser) - Thabo Mbeki could never be as beloved as Nelson Mandela, so he didn’t try, writes Mark Tran in the Guardian. Instead, Mbeki projected himself as a competent technocrat: cool, aloof, almost disdainful of popular opinion. He leaves behind a legacy as inscrutable as that persona, with clear victories, like...

Mbeki Will Resign in S. Africa
 Mbeki Will Resign in S. Africa 

Mbeki Will Resign in S. Africa

President agrees to resign in wake of struggle with Jacob Zuma

(Newser) - South African President Thabo Mbeki has agreed to resign following orders from the ruling party. A statement from the presidency says that Mbeki, who succeeded Nelson Mandela in 1999, will "step down after all constitutional requirements have been met." Parliament is due to meet in the coming days...

South Africa's President May Be Ousted in Party Revolt

ANC meets as leaders plan to kick Mbeki out of office

(Newser) - The leaders of the African National Congress, South Africa's ruling party, are meeting today to debate whether to force Thabo Mbeki to resign. The country's president has been under fire since a court ruled that the prosecution of Jacob Zuma, Mbeki's archrival and the head of the ANC, was politically...

Zimbabwe Leaders Sign Landmark Deal

Tsvangirai will become prime minister as parties come together

(Newser) - Zimbabwe's rival political parties signed their landmark power-sharing deal today, in which Robert Mugabe will remain president while Morgan Tsvangirai will take on the new position of prime minister. The two factions of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change will receive a majority of cabinet posts, including the ministries responsible...

S. African Court Throws Out Zuma Graft Case

Ruling clears way for leader to become president

(Newser) - A South African court has thrown out a corruption case against Jacob Zuma, effectively clearing the way for him to become president next year. The judge ruled that the charges—including 12 counts of fraud, four of corruption, and one each of racketeering and money laundering—were invalid because he...

Zimbabwe Rivals Strike Deal
 Zimbabwe Rivals Strike Deal  

Zimbabwe Rivals Strike Deal

But details won't be out until next week

(Newser) - Zimbabwe's rival factions have reached a power-sharing agreement to end Robert Mugabe's 28-year monopoly on power, the Independent reports. Details, however, won't be spelled out until Monday, leading some Western analysts to reserve celebration. In broad strokes, however, Mugabe will share power with opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai, who will be...

Freed Tsvangirai Arrives in South Africa

Zimbabwe opposition leader gets passport back, talks to continue

(Newser) - Morgan Tsvangirai has arrived in South Africa today on the eve of a weekend summit with regional leaders expected to focus on Zimbabwe's political crisis, reports the AP. The leader of the Movement for Democratic Change will meet with Thabo Mbeki, the South African president who is mediating power-sharing talks...

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