Editing Thabo Mbeki (section)

== Exile and early career ==
[[File:Govanmbekimugshot.jpg|thumb|231x231px|[[Govan Mbeki]] during the raid on [[Liliesleaf Farm]], July 1963.]]

=== 1962–69: England ===
While at Sussex, Mbeki was involved in ANC work and in broader organising for the English [[Anti-Apartheid Movement]]. Months after his arrival, his father was arrested during a [[Security Branch (South Africa)|Security Branch]] raid at [[Liliesleaf Farm]] in July 1963. During the ensuing [[Rivonia Trial]], Mbeki appeared before the [[United Nations]] (UN) [[UN Special Committee on Apartheid|Special Committee on Apartheid]] and later led a student march from Brighton to London, a distance of fifty miles.<ref name="Gevisser-2007a" />'''{{Rp|pages=202–12}}''' At the conclusion of the trial, Govan and seven other ANC leaders, among them [[Nelson Mandela]] and [[Walter Sisulu]], were sentenced to [[life imprisonment]].

Mbeki completed his bachelor's degree in economics in May 1965 but, at the exhortation of [[Oliver Tambo|O. R. Tambo]], enrolled for a Master's in economics and [[Economic development|development]] instead of returning to Africa to join [[UMkhonto we Sizwe|Umkhonto we Sizwe]] (MK), the ANC's armed wing. His Master's dissertation was in [[economic geography]].<ref name="Gevisser-2007a" />'''{{Rp|pages=198, 223}}''' In addition to this and his political organising, he developed a deep fondness for [[W. B. Yeats|Yeats]], [[Bertolt Brecht|Brecht]], [[William Shakespeare|Shakespeare]], and [[Blues|blues music]].<ref name="Gevisser-2007a" />'''{{Rp|pages=|page=195}}'''After completing his Master's, in October 1966 he moved to London to work full-time for the [[propaganda]] section of the ANC's English headquarters.<ref name="Gevisser-2007a" />'''{{Rp|pages=|page=251}}'''He remained active in the SACP, which was very closely allied to the ANC, and in 1967 he was appointed to the editorial board of its official magazine, the ''[[African Communist]]''.<ref name="Gevisser-2007a" />'''{{Rp|pages=|page=221}}'''

Throughout his time in England, Mbeki was the ward of O. R. Tambo and his wife [[Adelaide Tambo]] – in the absence of his parents, it was Adelaide and senior communist [[Michael Harmel]] who attended Mbeki's graduation ceremony in 1965.<ref name="Gevisser-2007a" />'''{{Rp|pages=|page=218}}''' O. R. Tambo later became the ANC's longest-serving president, and he acted as Mbeki's "political mentor and patron" until his death in 1993. Other friends Mbeki made in England, including [[Ronnie Kasrils]] and brothers [[Essop Pahad]] and [[Aziz Pahad]], were also among his key political allies in his later career.<ref name="Gevisser-2007a" />'''{{Rp|pages=166, 181, 221–22}}'''

=== 1969–71: Soviet Union ===
In February 1969, Mbeki was sent to [[Moscow]] in the [[Soviet Union]] to receive [[Marxism–Leninism|Marxist–Leninist]] political and ideological training – a fairly common practice, and even a rite of passage, among young people identified as belonging to the future generation of ANC and SACP political leaders. He was educated at the [[Marx–Engels–Lenin Institute|Lenin Institute]], where, because of the secrecy required, he went by the alias "Jack Fortune".<ref name="Gevisser-2007a" />'''{{Rp|pages=266–71}}''' He excelled at the institute and in June 1970 was appointed to the [[Central Committee of the South African Communist Party|Central Committee]] of the SACP, alongside Chris Hani.<ref name="Gevisser-2007a" />'''{{Rp|page=277}}''' The last part of his training entailed military training, also a rite of passage, including in intelligence, [[Guerrilla warfare|guerrilla]] tactics, and weaponry. However, his biographer [[Mark Gevisser]] adduces that he was "not the ideal candidate for military life", and [[Max Sisulu]], who trained alongside him, says that he always regarded Mbeki as better suited to political leadership than military leadership.<ref name="Gevisser-2007a" />'''{{Rp|pages=278–80}}'''

=== 1971–75: Lusaka ===
In April 1971, having been pulled out from military training, Mbeki was sent to [[Lusaka]], Zambia, where the ANC-in-exile had set up its new headquarters under acting president Tambo. He was to fill the post of administrative secretary to the ANC [[National Executive Committee of the African National Congress#Revolutionary Council|Revolutionary Council]], a body newly established to coordinate the political and military efforts of the ANC and SACP.<ref name="Gevisser-2007a" />'''{{Rp|page=289}}''' He was later moved to the propaganda section, but continued to attend the council's meetings, and in 1975 he (again alongside Hani) was elected onto the ANC's top decision-making organ, the [[National Executive Committee of the African National Congress|National Executive Committee]].<ref name="Gevisser-2007a" />'''{{Rp|page=296, 317}}''' It was during this period that he began to [[Ghostwriter|ghostwrite]] some of Tambo's speeches and reports, and he accompanied Tambo on important occasions, such as to the infamous December 1972 meeting with [[Mangosuthu Buthelezi]], the head of [[Inkatha Freedom Party|Inkatha]], in London.<ref name="Gevisser-2007a" />'''{{Rp|page=|pages=327, 415}}''' In 1973, he helped to establish the ANC's office in Botswana, considered a "frontline" country because of its shared border with South Africa, where the ANC was attempting to re-establish its underground.<ref name="Gevisser-2007a" />'''{{Rp|page=317}}''' However, although he travelled frequently in subsequent years, the ANC's Lusaka headquarters remained his central base.
[[File:MoeletsiMbeki1978Amsterdam.jpg|thumb|215x215px|Mbeki's brother [[Moeletsi Mbeki|Moeletsi]] in [[Amsterdam]] in 1978, accepting an award on behalf of their father. The banner calls for Govan's release.]]

=== 1975–76: Swaziland ===
Between 1975 and 1976, Mbeki was instrumental in establishing the ANC's frontline base in Swaziland. He was first sent there to assess the political landscape in January 1975, under the cover of attending a UN conference. As part of this reconnaissance trip, he and his colleague Max Sisulu spent time with [[S'bu Ndebele]], Max's sister [[Lindiwe Sisulu]], and their associates in the [[Black Consciousness Movement|Black Consciousness movement]], which at the time was ascendent in neighbouring South Africa.<ref name="Gevisser-2007a" />'''{{Rp|page=|pages=314–15}}''' Mbeki made a positive report to the ANC executive, and he was sent back to Swaziland to begin establishing the base. In Swaziland, he lived at Stanley Mabizela's family home in [[Manzini, Eswatini|Manzini]]. Working with Albert Dhlomo, Mbeki was responsible for helping to re-establish underground ANC networks in the South African provinces of [[Natal (province)|Natal]] and [[Transvaal (province)|Transvaal]], which shared a border with Swaziland. His counterpart inside South Africa was MK operative [[Jacob Zuma]], who ran the Natal underground. According to Gevisser, the pair developed "an unlikely rapport".<ref name="Gevisser-2007a" />'''{{Rp|page=|pages=343–345}}''' Mbeki was also responsible for recruiting new MK operatives, for liaising with South African student and labour activists, and for liaising with Inkatha, which was becoming dominant in Natal.<ref name="Gevisser-2007a" />'''{{Rp|page=|pages=316–17, 343–45}}'''

However, still another part of his duties was to act as the ANC's official representative in the country, and to maintain good diplomatic relations with the Swazi government. In March 1976, the government discovered that Mbeki was involved in military activity inside Swaziland, and he and Dhlomo – as well as Zuma, who was in the country illegally – were detained and then [[Deportation|deported]], though they managed to negotiate their deportation to the neutral territory of Mozambique rather than to South Africa.<ref name="Gevisser-2007a" />'''{{Rp|page=|pages=341–43}}''' Mbeki's management of the Swaziland base later became a point of contention between him and [[Mac Maharaj]], with whom his relationship has remained acrimonious decades later. In 1978, Maharaj and Mbeki argued at a top-level strategic meeting in [[Luanda]], Angola, when Maharaj, who had been tasked with running the political underground, claimed that Mbeki's records from the Swaziland office were in fact "just an empty folder".<ref name="Gevisser-2007a" />'''{{Rp|page=|pages=348–49}}'''

=== 1976–78: Nigeria ===
After being deported, Mbeki returned to Lusaka, where he was made Duma Nokwe's deputy in the ANC's Department of Information and Propaganda (DIP). In January 1977, he was posted to [[Lagos]], Nigeria, where he was to be – as in Swaziland – the ANC's first representative to the country. Although there was some debate about whether the appointment was a signal that he had been sidelined, Gevisser says that Mbeki performed well in Lagos, establishing good relations with [[Olusegun Obasanjo]]'s regime and establishing an ANC presence to eclipse that of its rival [[Pan Africanist Congress of Azania|Pan Africanist Congress]] (PAC).<ref name="Gevisser-2007a" />'''{{Rp|page=|pages=370–71, 384–85}}'''

=== 1978–80: Political secretary ===
When he returned to Lusaka from Lagos in 1978, he was promoted again: he replaced Nokwe as head of DIP, and simultaneously was appointed Tambo's political secretary, an extremely influential position in which he became one of Tambo's closest advisors and confidantes. He also continued to ghostwrite for Tambo, now in a formal capacity.<ref name="Gevisser-2007a" />'''{{Rp|page=|pages=385, 415}}''' At DIP, his approach was encapsulated by the change he made to the department's name, replacing "propaganda" with "publicity". He eschewed the secrecy of earlier years and openly gave interviews and access to American journalists, to the disapproval of some hardline communists. According to various sources, he was responsible for reforming the public image of the ANC from that of a [[Terrorism|terrorist]] organisation to that of a "government-in-waiting".<ref name="Gevisser-2007a" />'''{{Rp|page=|pages=394}}'''<ref>{{cite web|last=McGreal|first=Chris|date=1999-06-18|title=The great persuader steps out of Mandela's shadow|url=https://mg.co.za/article/1999-06-18-the-great-persuader-steps-out-of/|access-date=2022-02-05|website=The Mail & Guardian|language=en-ZA}}</ref>

{{Quote box
| quote = When I look at Thabo, I look at my husband's son. Physically, they bear a striking resemblance... They are both perfectionists, but without the intolerance that comes from many who share that quality. They are loyal and true. They are their own harshest critics. They both have the gift to draw people to them... They were [[soul mates]], different generations fusing at that particular time.
| source = — [[Adelaide Tambo]] reflects on Mbeki's relationship with [[O. R. Tambo]], June 2002<ref name="Gevisser-2007a"/>{{Rp|pages=222}}
| align = left
| width = 24%
}}He established some of his own high-level intelligence networks, with key underground operatives reporting directly to him, and Gevisser claims that these led to the initiation of relationships with many of the domestic activists who later became his political allies. Moreover, he was responsible for innovating some of the vocabulary which became emblematic of the 1980s anti-apartheid struggle, which burgeoned in the aftermath of the [[Soweto uprising|1976 Soweto uprising]]. Such phrases as "mass democratic movement", "people's power", and the exhortation to "[[make the country ungovernable]]" are attributed to Mbeki, and gained widespread popularity inside South Africa through [[Radio Freedom]] broadcasts written by DIP or by Mbeki personally.<ref name="Gevisser-2007a" />'''{{Rp|page=|pages=414, 420}}''' Zuma has said that it was Mbeki's "drafting skills" which enabled his ascendancy in the ANC and ultimately to the presidency.<ref name="Gevisser-2007a" />'''{{Rp|page=|pages=415}}'''

In 1980, Mbeki led the ANC's delegation to Zimbabwe, where the party hoped to establish relations with [[Robert Mugabe]]'s newly elected government. This was a sensitive mission, because the ANC had historically been strongly allied to the [[Zimbabwe African People's Union]], the arch rival of Mugabe's [[ZANU–PF|ZANU-PF]]. Working primarily through Mugabe's righthand man, future Zimbabwean president [[Emmerson Mnangagwa]], Mbeki negotiated an extraordinarily congenial agreement between ZANU-PF and the ANC. The agreement allowed the ANC to open an office in Zimbabwe and to move MK weapons and cadres over Zimbabwean borders; moreover, it committed the Zimbabwean military to assisting the ANC, and the government to providing MK cadres with Zimbabwean identity documents.<ref name="Gevisser-2007a" />'''{{Rp|page=|pages=434–36}}''' However, Mbeki handed the running of the [[Harare|Salisbury]] office over to another ANC official, and the deal later collapsed.

=== 1980s: Negotiations ===
{{BLP sources section|date=January 2024}}

In 1985, [[PW Botha]] declared a State of Emergency and gave the army and police special powers. In 1986, the South African Army sent a captain in the South African Defence Force (SADF) to kill Mbeki. The plan was to put a bomb in his house in Lusaka, but the assassin was arrested by the Zambian police before he could go through with the plan.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://thespinoff.co.nz/society/24-03-2019/ex-pat-south-africans-need-to-stop-pedalling-the-myth-of-white-genocide |title=NZ's South African community needs to stop peddling the myth of white genocide |author=Ross Webb |date=2019-03-24 |publisher=[[The Spinoff]] }}</ref> Also in 1985, Mbeki became the ANC's director of the Department of Information and Publicity and coordinated diplomatic campaigns to involve more white South Africans in anti-apartheid activities. In 1989, he rose in the ranks to head the ANC's Department of International Affairs and was involved in the ANC's negotiations with the South African government. Mbeki played a major role in turning the international media against apartheid. Raising the diplomatic profile of the ANC, Mbeki acted as a point of contact for foreign governments and international organisations and he was extremely successful in this position. Mbeki also played the role of ambassador to the steady flow of delegates from the elite sectors of white South Africa. These included academics, clerics, business people and representatives of liberal white groups who travelled to Lusaka to assess the ANC's views on a democratic, free South Africa.

Mbeki was seen as pragmatic, eloquent, rational, and urbane. He was known for his diplomatic style and sophistication. In the early 1980s, Mbeki, Jacob Zuma and [[Aziz Pahad]] were appointed by Tambo to conduct private talks with representatives of the [[National Party (South Africa)|National Party]] government. Twelve meetings between the parties took place between November 1987 and May 1990, most of them held at [[Mells Park House]], a country house near [[Bath, Somerset|Bath]] in Somerset, [[England]].  By September 1989, the team secretly met with Maritz Spaarwater and [[Mike Louw]] in a hotel in [[Switzerland]]. Known as "Operation Flair", [[PW Botha]] was kept informed of all the meetings. At the same time, Mandela and [[Kobie Coetzee]], the Minister of Justice, were also holding secret talks. When Mbeki finally was able to return home to South Africa and was reunited with his own father, the elder Mbeki told a reporter, "You must remember that Thabo Mbeki is no longer my son. He is my comrade!" A news article pointed out that this was an expression of pride, explaining, "For Govan Mbeki, a son was a mere biological appendage; to be called a comrade, on the other hand, was the highest honour."<ref name="govan">{{cite web|last=Gevisser|first=Mark|year=2001|title=ANC was his family, the struggle was his life|url=http://www.anc.org.za/ancdocs/history/people/gmbeki/docs/suntimes_020901.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061001104212/http://www.anc.org.za/ancdocs/history/people/gmbeki/docs/suntimes_020901.htm|archive-date=1 October 2006|access-date=22 November 2006|work=Sunday Times}}</ref>

In the late 1970s, Mbeki made a number of trips to the United States in search of support among US corporations. Literate and funny, he made a wide circle of friends in New York City. Mbeki was appointed head of the ANC's information department in 1984 and then became head of the international department in 1989, reporting directly to [[Oliver Tambo]], then President of the ANC. Tambo was Mbeki's long-time mentor. In 1985, Mbeki was a member of a delegation that began meeting secretly with representatives of the South African business community, and in 1989, he led the ANC delegation that conducted secret talks with the South African government. These talks led to the unbanning of the ANC and the release of political prisoners. He also participated in many of the other important [[Negotiations to end apartheid in South Africa|negotiations]] between the ANC and the government that eventually led to the democratisation of South Africa.<ref name="anc-bio1996">{{cite web|author=Office of the Deputy Executive President|date=13 September 1996|title=Biography of Thabo Mbeki|url=http://www.anc.org.za/ancdocs/history/mbeki/bio/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070711183712/http://www.anc.org.za/ancdocs/history/mbeki/bio/|archive-date=11 July 2007|access-date=21 July 2007|publisher=ANC}}</ref>  As a sign of goodwill, de Klerk set free a few of the ANC's top leadership at the end of 1989, among them [[Govan Mbeki]].