Thabo Mbeki, a Sussex alumnus, will be sworn in as the new President of South Africa on June 16 following the success of the ANC in the recent election.
Mr Mbeki was the first black South African student at Sussex. Under his influence the University was swept by a wave of anti-apartheid activity which he himself credited with helping to prevent the execution of Nelson Mandela and other prominent ANC activists. He led a headline-grabbing march from Brighton to the House of Commons in protest at the imprisonment of his father, Govan, and other members of the ANC, which put the issue on the national agenda.
Mr Mbeki was at the University from 1962 - 66, following a BA in Economics with an MA in African Studies. In 1995 the University awarded Mr Mbeki with an honorary doctorate in a moving ceremony where Lord Attenborough paid tribute to his "charm, humour and sweet reason". Mr Mbeki's university friends always knew he would achieve great things. Lesley Garner, a contemporary, said that "even then, we knew there was more to Thabo than charm." Mr Mbeki is now poised on the edge of achieving great things as South Africa's new President.
