Thabo Mbeki

Date: 30 November, 1964

The African National Congress (ANC) executive member in charge of youth affairs, J.J. Hadebe replied to Thabo Mbeki’s request to complete his Masters Degree. Mbeki who would become South Africa’s second President after Nelson Mandela, wrote a letter to the ANC asking the organization to give him the opportunity to further his graduate studies. His letter followed a call by his organization that the timing was right for him to join uMkhonto weSizwe (MK). In his reply Hadebe wrote; “We (ANC) are agreeable that you should stay on for another year to pursue your studies leading to a Masters degree.” Mbeki wrote the letter in October 1964.

In his book Thabo Mbeki: The Dream Deferred, Mark Gevisser quotes Philip Ingram as saying Mbeki was very unhappy with the suggestion that the time had come for him to take up his weapon and join the army. In 1965 Mbeki returned to Sussex University to further his studies. He played an imperative role during the tension-driven negotiations, which paved the road to the first South African democratic elections in 1994.

References

• Gavisser, M. (2007). Thabo Mbeki: The Dream deferred. South Africa: Jonathan Ball Publishers. pg 223
• South African History Online(2011). ‘The CODESA negotiations’from South African History Online [online] Available at www.sahistory.org.za [Accessed 03 November 2011]