Editing Thabo Mbeki (section)

== Controversies ==
{{Criticism section|date=May 2025}}

=== 1999 Arms Deal ===
{{Main|South African Arms Deal}}
There have been rumours and allegations, never proven or prosecuted and denied by Mbeki, that Mbeki was involved in or aware of corruption in the 1999 [[South African Arms Deal|Arms Deal]], a major defence procurement package negotiated while he was deputy president.<ref>{{cite web|last=Maughan|first=Karyn|date=2008-06-19|title=Mbeki off the hook|url=https://www.iol.co.za/news/politics/mbeki-off-the-hook-404952|access-date=2021-12-20|website=IOL|language=en}}</ref><ref name="Sapa-2003">{{cite web|date=2003-09-03|title=Probe Mbeki's Role In Arms Deal - De Lille|url=http://www.armsdeal-vpo.co.za/articles04/probe_mbeki.html|access-date=2021-12-21|website=Cape Times}}</ref><ref name="Nicolson-2014">{{cite web|last=Nicolson|first=Greg|date=2014-07-17|title=Mbeki in the arms deal spotlight|url=https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2014-07-17-mbeki-in-the-arms-deal-spotlight/|access-date=2021-12-20|website=Daily Maverick|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=|first=|date=2008-08-03|title=Mbeki Received Millions in German Defense Deal, Report Says|url=https://www.dw.com/en/mbeki-received-millions-in-german-defense-deal-report-says/a-3535872|access-date=2021-12-20|website=Deutsche Welle|language=en-GB}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Evans|first=Sarah|date=2014-07-16|title=Arms deal: Was Thabo Mbeki complicit?|url=https://mg.co.za/article/2014-07-16-arms-deal-was-thabo-mbeki-complicit/|access-date=2022-02-04|website=The Mail & Guardian|language=en-ZA}}</ref>

===Crime===
In 2004 President Thabo Mbeki made an attack on commentators who argued that violent crime was out of control in South Africa, calling them white racists who want the country to fail. He alleged that crime was falling and some journalists were distorting reality by depicting black people as "barbaric savages" who liked to rape and kill.<ref name="Carroll">Carroll, Roy (5 October 2004) [https://www.theguardian.com/world/2004/oct/05/southafrica.rorycarroll "Mbeki says crime reports are racist"] ''The Guardian'' (Manchester)</ref> Annual statistics published in September 2004 showed that most categories of crime were down, but some had challenged the figures' credibility and said that South Africa remained extremely dangerous, especially for women. In a column for the African National Congress website, the president rebuked the doubters.<ref name="race-rape-row">Staff (5 October 2004) [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/3716004.stm "Mbeki slammed in rape race row"] BBC News</ref> Mr Mbeki did not name journalist Charlene Smith who had championed victims of sexual violence since writing about her own rape, but quoted a recent article in which she said South Africa had the highest rate of rape and referred (apparently sarcastically) to her as an "internationally recognised expert on sexual violence".<ref name="Carroll"/> He said: "She was saying our cultures, traditions and religions as Africans inherently make every African man a potential rapist ... [a] view which defines the African people as barbaric savages."<ref name="race-rape-row"/> Mr Mbeki also described the newspaper ''The Citizen'', and other commentators who challenged the apparent fall in crime, as pessimists who did not trust black rule.<ref name="Carroll"/>

In January 2007, the [[African Peer Review Mechanism]] (APRM) ''draft'' report on South Africa was released. This noted that South Africa had the world's second-highest murder rate, with about 50 people a day being killed, and that although serious crime was reported as falling, security analysts said that the use of violence in robberies, and rape, were more common. Mbeki in response said in an interview that fears of crime were exaggerated.<ref>Boyle, Brendan (13 May 2007) [http://www.africafiles.org/article.asp?ID=15042 "South Africa rejects African Peer Review Mechanism report"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303231430/http://www.africafiles.org/article.asp?ID=15042|date=3 March 2016}} ''The Sunday Times'' (Johannesburg, South Africa), from ''AfricaFiles''</ref><ref name="mcgreal2007">{{cite news|last=McGreal|first=Chris|date=29 January 2007|title=Report attacks S African crime and corruption|work=The Guardian|location=UK|url=https://www.theguardian.com/southafrica/story/0,,2001054,00.html|access-date=30 September 2007}}</ref>

In December 2007 the final African Peer Review Mechanism (APRM) report on South Africa, again suggested that there was an unacceptably high level of violent crime in the country.<ref>''It must be noted however that the distinctive feature of crime in South Africa is not its volume but its level of violence.'' African Peer Review Mechanism (September 2007) [http://www.aprm.org.za/docs/SACountryReviewReport5.pdf ''APRM Country Review Report and the National Programme of Action of the Republic of South Africa''] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090617105350/http://www.aprm.org.za/docs/SACountryReviewReport5.pdf|date=17 June 2009}} paragraph 949, page 285</ref> President Mbeki said the suggestion of unacceptably high violent crime appeared to be an acceptance by the panel of what he called "a populist view".<ref name="M-G-2007">
Staff (6 December 2007) [http://www.mg.co.za/article/2007-12-06-mbeki-critical-of-crime-issues-in-aprm-report "Mbeki critical of crime issues in APRM report"] ''Mail and Guardian'' (South Africa)</ref> He challenged some of the statistics on crime, which he noted may have resulted from a weak information base, leading to wrong conclusions. Although rape statistics had been obtained from the South African Police Service, "this only denotes the incidents of rape that were reported, some of which could have resulted in acquittals" Mbeki indicated.<ref name="M-G-2007"/>

=== Debate with Archbishop Tutu ===
In 2004 the [[Archbishop]] [[Emeritus]] of [[Cape Town]], [[Desmond Tutu]], criticised President Mbeki for surrounding himself with "yes-men", not doing enough to improve the position of the poor and for promoting economic policies that only benefited a small black elite. He also accused Mbeki and the ANC of suppressing public debate. Mbeki responded that Tutu had never been an ANC member and defended the debates that took place within ANC branches and other public forums. He also asserted his belief in the value of democratic discussion by quoting the Chinese slogan "let a hundred flowers bloom", referring to the brief [[Hundred Flowers Campaign]] within the Chinese Communist Party in 1956–57.

The ''ANC Today'' newsletter featured several analyses of the debate, written by Mbeki and the ANC.<ref name="anctoday-tutu1">{{cite web|last=Mbeki|first=Thabo|year=2005|title=The Sociology of the Public Discourse in Democratic South Africa / Part I – The Cloud with the Silver Lining|url=http://www.anc.org.za/ancdocs/anctoday/2005/at02.htm#art1|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061004164618/http://www.anc.org.za/ancdocs/anctoday/2005/at02.htm#art1|archive-date=4 October 2006|access-date=23 November 2006|work=ANC Today|publisher=ANC}}</ref><ref name="anctoday-tutu2">{{cite web|last=Mbeki|first=Thabo|year=2005|title=The Sociology of the Public Discourse in Democratic South Africa / Part II – Who shall set the national agenda?|url=http://www.anc.org.za/ancdocs/anctoday/2005/at02.htm#art1|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061004164618/http://www.anc.org.za/ancdocs/anctoday/2005/at02.htm#art1|archive-date=4 October 2006|access-date=23 November 2006|work=ANC Today|publisher=ANC}}</ref> The latter suggested that Tutu was an "icon" of "white elites", thereby suggesting that his political importance was overblown by the media; and while the article took pains to say that Tutu had not sought this status, it was described in the press as a particularly pointed and personal critique of Tutu. Tutu responded that he would pray for Mbeki as he had prayed for the officials of the apartheid government.<ref name="nu">{{cite web|last=Tutu, Mbeki & others|year=2005|title=Controversy: Tutu, Mbeki & the freedom to criticise|url=http://www.nu.ac.za/ccs/default.asp?3,28,10,1763|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070213032334/http://www.nu.ac.za/ccs/default.asp?3,28,10,1763|archive-date=13 February 2007|access-date=23 November 2006|publisher=Centre for Civil Society|df=dmy-all}}</ref>