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I have absolutely no problem with the press criticising policies and the things that we do, the things that we say.

Thabo Mbeki

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Thabo Mbeki
Age: 82
Born: 1942
Born: June 18
Economist
Politician
South African Politician
Thabo Mvuyelwa Mbeki
Policy
Problem
Things
Criticising
Policies
Presses
Press
Absolutely

More quotes by Thabo Mbeki

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I must say, with regard to Equatorial Guinea, the Government of Equatorial Guinea, as soon as they had arrested these people, sent a delegation here to say they are going to charge them because they have got sufficient information to say these people were planning to remove the Government of Equatorial Guinea by force.
Thabo Mbeki
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I must say also, that we are not talking just about foreign investors.
Thabo Mbeki
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I am an African. I owe my being to the hills and the valleys, the mountains and the glades, the rivers, the deserts, the trees, the flowers, the seas and the ever-changing seasons that define the face of our native land.
Thabo Mbeki
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Part of the issue around communal land, which became a matter of controversy, is that we are saying that this land must go back to communities. Not chiefs and traditional leaders.
Thabo Mbeki
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There are lots of problems in Transnet, which we are trying to sort out, but we are quite confident we will. We can't avoid the increase in the capacity of Spoornet. So, whatever problems there are in Spoornet, they must be solved. The same goes for the harbours. And the same goes for the airlines.
Thabo Mbeki
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I come back to what I had said earlier: the policies might be there but are people benefiting from the policies? You do find that in many instances, though the policies exist, they are not having the necessary impact. That is a particular challenge in local government, because that is where all the services get delivered.
Thabo Mbeki
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We have a series of regular meetings with South African business. Big business. Black business. Agriculture. As well, of course, with the trade unions. A whole series of meetings like that which engage issues that these South African social partners need to address.
Thabo Mbeki
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The question arose, how would the communities manage this land on their own. That's why the Communal Land Rights Bill then borrows an institution that is set up in terms of the role and function and powers of the institutional traditional leadership ( borrows that committee and uses that committee).
Thabo Mbeki
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The law enforcement authorities have got a fairly good idea of who are these principal criminals. Who are the people, for instance, who receive the cell phones? When a young person goes and snatches a cell phone, there's someone who is sitting somewhere who receives this. Lots of this kind of crime.
Thabo Mbeki
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We would take the same position as the majority of the world about this, including this issue where Prime Minister [Ariel] Sharon made a commitment to pull Israeli troops out of Gaza.
Thabo Mbeki
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We are in the process of negotiating an agreement with the United States. We will be negotiating agreements with India and China. We are in the process of negotiating an agreement with Mercosur, South America. So there are a number of these trade agreements in the major markets of the world.
Thabo Mbeki
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Those who oppressed us described us as the Dark Continent!
Thabo Mbeki
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Pope Benedict XVI assumes leadership at a critical time in which the world's collective wisdom and leadership including that of the religious community is most important to face up to challenges of deepening poverty and under-development afflicting many people of the world.
Thabo Mbeki
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I think you're a much happier person if you say 'Even if I get involved in politics, I'm only doing so in order to serve the people'. You will sleep much easier, not serving yourself, but having done your best to serve the people. Even if you have not succeeded, at least you've tried. You haven't stolen anything, and you haven't robbed the people.
Thabo Mbeki
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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.
Thabo Mbeki
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The public service needs lots of people, South Africa generally, needs lots of people.
Thabo Mbeki
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A matter that seems to be very clear in terms of the alternative view, is what do you expect to happen in Africa with regard to immune systems, where people are poor, subject to repeat infections and all of that. Surely you would expect their immune systems to collapse.
Thabo Mbeki
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At the same time, you have got these traditional councils. And the challenge is how to make sure that they function together [with municipal councils], smoothly, and that is part of what this legislation is trying to address.
Thabo Mbeki
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How many murders are committed in Gauteng, or in the Western Cape, in a month? A week? A day? An hour? But of course we are not allowed to know for sure. In close and direct imitation of his apartheid models, Selebi ensures that no statistics about crime may be published regularly in the press.
Thabo Mbeki
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Historically during the years of the White minority regimes, the State, the national Government held this land in trust for these communities. We said, but no, why should we do that ( return the land to the communities). We didn't say return the land to particular traditional leaders, but to the communities.
Thabo Mbeki