OPINION:Thabo Mbeki had a key role in the peaceful and prosperous transition in South Africa, writes Bryan Mukandi
I FEEL FOR retiring president of South Africa Thabo Mbeki. He is in danger of being remembered for all the wrong reasons. The biggest blot on his career is the stance he took on Aids. Mbeki, for reasons best known to himself, chose to endorse the views of some dissident scientists who claimed the primary cause of the disease was not viral. To make matters worse his government's health policy on Aids was based on that thinking.
South Africa became a laughing stock when senior figures in government suggested multivitamins and beetroot could be used in place of antiretroviral drugs. The worst part of that episode is that Mbeki is not stupid. The world could have handled, and may even have been sympathetic to, genuine ignorance. A stubborn refusal to listen to experts and an insistence on basing one's health policy on one's own research, especially if the individual in question is an economist, is very difficult to forgive. Which is why to this day, any mention of Mbeki will likely lead to a discussion on Aids.
Another big blot is Zimbabwe. To the disgust of many Zimbabweans, and many more in the African and international communities, he refused to censure the old dictator Robert Mugabe. And while it is possible to justify the concept of quiet diplomacy, it often felt like an excuse and a means of buying time. When he eventually decided that negotiation was necessary, he was able to bend Mugabe's will. There will therefore always be questions about the number of lives and the amount of destruction and suffering that could have been spared had he taken a firmer stance earlier on.
Not only are there now people who blame Mbeki for the unnecessary loss of life due to Aids, there are plenty who blame him for perpetuating the mess in Zimbabwe. But it would be unfair to only remember him for his failings. Much more significant are his successes.
I hold Thabo Mbeki in very high regard. He has contributed an enormous amount to South Africa and to the rest of the continent. He joined the African National Congress at the age of 14 and was imprisoned for terrorism and treason with Nelson Mandela and Walter Sisulu. Thabo Mbeki had to leave South Africa and, while in exile, worked tirelessly for the ANC, raising awareness on the realities of apartheid. He suffered the personal loss of the deaths of his brother and son under dubious circumstances, as well as the pain of separation from his family.
He later played a important role in negotiating the end of apartheid. While there were some bent on continuing armed conflict, Mbeki had the foresight to advocate negotiation with the then enemy at a time when that suggestion was unpalatable. No matter how unpopular it has made him at times, Mbeki has consistently shown a remarkable ability to stand by his convictions.
In 1994, when Mandela became the first president of a free South Africa, he was made joint deputy president and sole deputy president in 1996. While Mandela saw to the reconciliation of the nation, Mbeki was largely responsible for the running of the government - a responsibility he took on in full from 1999 when he assumed office.
According to one of his biographers, Mark Gevisser, Mbeki's favourite poem is A Dream Deferredby Langston Hughes. Hughes explores what may happen if a dream is put off. He wonders if that dream dries up, festers, stinks, crusts, sags or . . . explodes. According to Gevisser, Mbeki was preoccupied with the same question. In 1998, he asked in parliament: "What happens to the dream deferred?"
His greatest worry, it seems, was the impossible expectations of a nation that had finally come out of the yoke of oppression. And if there is an area in which Thabo Mbeki has not received adequate credit, it is the manner in which he, and his government, kept that deferred dream from exploding.
The trade unions and the communist party in South Africa feel Mbeki betrayed them by pursuing an ultra-capitalist approach. That may well be the case, but his business-friendly policies have enabled South Africa to enjoy its longest period of economic growth to date. It is true that the plight of the poor has not adequately changed in the 14 years he has been running the government. But that is not for want of trying. A lot of capacity development and strengthening of the government's ability to effectively deliver social policy has had to occur. I am sure that more could have been done to redress the inequality and imbalances that still exist in South Africa, but one can only ask so much of a leader. And to that end, perhaps it is a good thing that this leader is now stepping aside.
What most impresses me about Mbeki, though, is that he is one of the few African leaders who have attempted to articulate a vision of post-colonial Africa worthy of the continent. Even in his final television address, he reminded us that: "Africa and Africans, will not and must not, be the wretched of the earth, in perpetuity."
Despite his many faults, I think Thabo Mbeki was an exceptional president. I hope he is remembered as such.
• Bryan Mukandi writes a blog on irishtimes.com - www. irishtimes.com/blogs/outsidein/