WEYMOUTH: How will your presidency differ from that of Nelson Mandela?
MBEKI: The policies will remain the same, but in the second five years we are better placed to move faster because of the foundation that has been laid. During the last five years… we passed over 500 pieces of legislation to remove the apartheid laws.
The Mandela government followed a fiscally prudent course. Will you continue to do so in the face of rising social demands?
In the last budget, we maintained our position with regard to the reduction of the budget deficit… [although] people were saying there was a danger we might borrow more [and] increase the deficit in order to buy votes. We were not going to do any such thing. We further reduced the budget deficit and corporate taxes, because we need to create the best possible conditions for people to invest in the economy. We’ve had to make enormous changes with regard to economic policy. This economy was an isolated economy… [with] high tariff barriers. We had to open it up, which was painful.
Has opening up the economy caused layoffs?
That’s part of what has happened. Once you remove or lower tariff barriers and expose the economy to greater international competition, companies have to increase their own efficiency to be competitive.
Is one of your priorities to get the high crime rate under control?
When people talk about crime, it’s because crime has spread into white areas. The black areas have been victim to high levels of crime for many decades. In the past, the South African police virtually had no crime intelligence; they were focused on fighting antiapartheid activists. [We have] tried to strengthen our law-enforcement agencies to ensure they are able to fight crime. [Then there is] the reallocation of resources: in 1994, about 85 percent of the police stations were in the white areas protecting 10 percent of the population.
It is said that you have a staff three times as large as your predecessor’s and that you are centralizing power. Please comment.
It’s a white South African… It’s part of a kind of fear syndrome which some people seek to cultivate for partisan purposes. The idea is put out that we have some intention to centralize government.
It is said, for example, that you will select the ANC premier candidates of the nine provinces [that make up the country], while in the past they were chosen locally.
That’s part of people trying to cultivate a fear syndrome. The issue of the nomination of the premiers actually came from the ANC membership, who said selecting premiers is not helping us. And so the ANC executive said, “We’ll have these people nominated by the president.” It’s an internal ANC matter–not a [way] to centralize [power]. The powers of local governments are spelled out in the Constitution, and we have no desire to change that Constitution. It was largely written by the ANC. I don’t know why people think the ANC has changed its mind.
Is the party an instrument to win elections or a means to control the society?
The party, the ANC, is important. If you look at the policies the government has been implementing over the last five years, these were ANC positions. There is no such thing here as policy which is personal.
Do you have the right to change ANC policy?How do you see South Africa’s relationship with the United States?
Relations with the United States at all levels are very good indeed. The binational commission was established to ensure that we are able bilaterally to deal with all matters relating to the two countries, whether they are political, economic or whatever. And the relationship is not only good at a governmental level. The economic relations between the United States and South Africa keep expanding all the time, and I’m sure that that process will proceed.
Will you pursue President Mandela’s policy of maintaining close relations with Libya, Cuba and Iran?
Which country does not recognize Cuba? South Africa is behaving the same way as the rest of the world. Most countries maintain the same relations with these countries as we do.
Don’t you think that Libya and Iran are rogue regimes?
Take, for instance, the oil resources of Iran. French oil companies have decided to participate in mining and development of oil in Iran. They are supported by the French government. Countries around the world have relations with Iran. I don’t know why South Africa should behave in a manner contrary to what the majority of the world does.
President Mandela has spoken openly about the ANC receiving foreign campaign contributions. There have been recent press reports about contributions from Libya, Saudi Arabia and China. How do you feel about such contributions?
It’s fine. You know the reason [they exist] is because many of these countries understand [that] you have an organization–the ANC–that was banned in 1960, unbanned in 1990, and its leadership was in jail or in exile. When the conflict was over, and [the ANC had to] prepare to have elections, supporters of the ANC said we have an obligation to assist the ANC. Clearly, those foreign contributions will wither away with time. Incidentally, all South African parties generate funds internationally.
Under your leadership, will South Africa play a forceful diplomatic role in Africa? What do you propose to do about the approximately 15 conflicts that are currently going on on the continent?
We have to be involved in the search for peace and stability on the continent. We’ve got to ensure that there is an early-warning capacity. Secondly, there are conflicts currently going on which need to be resolved. We are all working on the resolution of the conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. I’m quite certain it won’t be long before we arrive at a framework [ceasefire] agreement there. Thirdly, we are trying to build up a peacekeeping capacity. We are better placed to act as a region with regard to peacekeeping than as individual countries.
Mandela stressed reconciliation. But white South Africans now worry that you won’t. What’s the truth?
That certainly is not the truth. The policy of national reconciliation remains very important to the future of South Africa… This remains a racially divided society. The legacy of apartheid is deeply entrenched. We need to pursue the notion of national reconciliation, to develop a South Africa in which all South Africans–black and white–develop a common patriotism and overcome the distrust and racial antagonisms of the past. But you cannot achieve national reconciliation on the basis of the perpetuation of the injustices and disparities of the past.
The United States argues that South Africa has passed legislation that ignores the patent rights of U.S. drug companies. Some, however, argue that the United States is blocking much-needed AIDS drugs from entering South Africa. What do you think?
We want to provide affordable drugs and medicines to this population, millions of whom are poor. And therefore we need to access drugs and medicines where they are cheapest. We are ready to protect property rights–but we want to access drugs at the best price on the world market.
You went into exile in 1962, attended university in England and subsequently did diplomatic work for the ANC. Is it hard to believe that you’re now president of South Africa?
We–many in my generation–got into the struggle to end the system of apartheid. We had no notion of becoming professional politicians. Even as we came back to South Africa in 1990, the idea was to negotiate a constitution and hold elections. Then we would have finished the job we were doing and could go back to our professions and become teachers and lawyers.
When did the idea of entering politics strike you?
Still hasn’t. It will be very good, actually, to hand over [the job] to people who sit a bit more comfortably with the notion of being a professional politician. The sooner that kind of person takes over, the better, because we can contribute in other ways. I dream about devoting time to students at universities and giving lectures about the rest of the world.
How do you view your presidency?
It’s a natural evolution from the struggle that was waged against apartheid. It’s not as a result of any ambition to be president.
Were you influenced by your family to enter politics? Your father was imprisoned with Mandela.
Our parents didn’t intervene. They left it entirely to us. But in those circumstances, you couldn’t stay away from the struggle. There’s one last thing I’d like to say. We were very pleased with the visit of President Clinton to Africa last year. And we thought it was a very important signal of the commitment of the United States to the development of this continent. We put out the notion that we would like this next century to be the African century, [with an] African renaissance. The one spot where things seem to be regressing is the African continent. We as Africans should take on the challenge. But I think we will succeed better if a powerful country like the United States joins us in this effort.
