Mbeki's communist past.

ITEM: After describing South Africa's President Thabo Mbeki as "an ardent disciple of globalization" in the April 14, 2004 edition of the Christian Science Monitor, staff writer Abraham McLaughlin wrote, "But now the man who was trained as a classical economist in Britain is hinting at socialism." McLaughlin continued, "So Mbeki may start drawing on another part of his past--one that includes meetings at a Soviet dacha once used by Joseph Stalin and charter membership in the politburo of the South Africa Communist Party." And he added, "He's campaigning on a 'people's contract' that would make Franklin Roosevelt proud."

ITEM: On April 14, 2004, the New York Times published a report by Michael Wines expressing fear that African National Congress leader Thabo Mbeki's expected re-election victory might result in "an extended detour toward one-party rule." Wines pointed to Mbeki's claim that such a concern was "a fictional threat" that had been created by a white minority.

AHEAD OF THE CURVE: In November 1982, the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Security and Terrorism published the names of the leaders of South Africa's Communist-dominated African National Congress (ANC). Next to the name of Thabo Mbeki appeared the notation "Chief, Politburo." This information was published in the September 4, 1985 issue of The Review of the News, a predecessor of THE NEW AMERICAN.

Mbeki became South Africa's president in 1999 when he succeeded Nelson Mandela, an ANC leader who had previously boasted that he was a Communist. "We communist party members are the most advanced revolutionaries in modern history," Mandela wrote prior to his 1964 trial. Over the years Establishment-led newspapers such as the Monitor and the Times have generally ignored the Communist backgrounds of South Africa's leaders--the recent Monitor article cited above being a refreshing exception.

The May 30, 1994 issue of THE NEW AMERICAN noted "the dominance of the South African Communist Party (SACP) in the new regime" taking power in the newly installed government in South Africa. Among others we cited Communist Mbeki, who was the "First Deputy President" in the new government. Because of their backgrounds, Mbeki and his comrades aren't "hinting at socialism," they are hard-core Marxists. Nor should the writers for these newspapers find it surprising that Mbeki would work diligently to create one-party rule, a feature of all Communist-led governments.

The Monitor's characterization of Mbeki's program for his country as something "that would make Franklin Roosevelt proud" is inadvertently revealing of what FDR did to our country. Like Mbeki's regime, FDR's administration was laden with many Communists and Communist sympathizers. Congressman Martin Dies recalled that when he brought this problem to FDR's attention in 1940, the president became furious and claimed that "there is nothing wrong with the Communists in this country. Several of the best friends I have are Communists." As America's president from 1933-1945, FDR presided over the fastening of numerous Communist/socialistic programs on the United States, the important history of which has repeatedly been provided over the past four decades in this publication and its predecessors.

In our October 30, 1995 issue, we identified Mbeki as "a frequent guest at the Council on Foreign Relations." (He filled the role of guest speaker before the council at its New York headquarters on February 27, 1995.) Also appearing in this issue was a report of Mbeki's attendance at a "dinner hosted by David Rockefeller for corporate CEOs to raise funds for the ANC's election drive." Subsequent issues of our magazine noted that Mbeki spoke in Havana in mid-2000 as part of a program featuring UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan and Cuba's Communist dictator Fidel Castro.

More coverage of the "globalization" mind-set of the South African leader came when THE NEW AMERICAN noted his participation in the Gorbachev-led State of the World Forum 2000, the 2001 UN Conference on Racism, and the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development which he actually hosted in South Africa. It should come as no surprise to anyone that Thabo Mbeki is (to quote the Monitor) "an ardent disciple of globalization."