Anglophone crisis: Thabo Mbeki strikes Biya!.

Thabo Mbeki, who served as the second post-apartheid President of South Africa; from June 14, 1999, to September 24, 2008, made the startling revelation on May 26, 2025, while participating on a podcast.

The podcast, dubbed: ‘Power Talk’, aired on May 26, which coincided with the 2025 edition of Africa Day, was hosted bya South African politician, radio host and political activist, Dr Mbuyiseni Quintin Ndlozi.

During the show, hosted in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, Dr Mbuyiseni Ndlozi and President Thabo Mbeki reflected on the journey of the African continent- its historical struggles, present-day realities, and the vision for a united and prosperous future.

During the over one hour, 30 minutes show, Thabo Mbeki, who succeeded anti-apartheid hero, the late Nelson Mandela, regretted that the Pan-Africanist agenda is fast dying.

The veteran South African politician noted with dismay that solidarity among African leaders has been on a steady decline. He cited the case of their encounter with President Biya, on resolving the raging armed conflict in the two English-speaking Regions of the country.

Thabo Mbeki told his host: “I give you an example on the challenges in Cameroon that have been going on now for some time; including the violent conflict within Cameroon, which is a kind of civil war…we have been trying to talk to President Biya, to say as an African forum; that is former Heads of State of Africa, we are ready to assist you and work with you to solve this conflict”.

He added that: “We haven’t gone very far because he (Biya) has not been very keen to be assisted to address these challenges. So, I then talked with the Commission of the African Union, asking them; ‘colleagues, what are you doing about this conflict in Cameroon?’ So, we discussed the matter as a commission and decided that one of us should visit Cameroon, to engage President Biya and everybody to see what we can do as a union”.

Commenting the further on the roadblocks, Thabo Mbeki disclosed that: “Indeed, our colleague went to Cameroon…and I was sitting here and watching the news…in the news, I saw my colleague arriving in Yaounde and walking down a red carpet”.

He was blunt that: “When I saw my colleague walking down that red carpet, I knew that the mission had failed…the way they arranged that reception was to drive the notion in the head of my colleague that you are very important person, so you are received with great grandeur…so in the end, it is the visit itself which becomes the objective not its outcome”.

He continued that: “…I knew my colleague will be so happy that he was received with a red carpet and champagne but the mission died. It is crude reflection of the death of the Pan-Africanist objective”.

“You can’t say there is a full time functional African Union and you go there to solve a very serious conflict among the Cameroonian people but you don’t carry it out because all that satisfies you is that I was given all the necessary protocol…,” he fired on.

It should be recalled that the last time President Thabo Mbeki visited Cameroon was in June 2014. He was part of a delegation from the Pan-African Lawyers’ Union, which handed a Prize to President Biya, for the “Peaceful Resolution of Conflicts”, especially the Cameroon-Nigeria Green Tree Accord that put to rest the conflict over the oil-rich Bakassi Peninsula.

The lawyers’ delegation was led by Barrister Akere Muna, then President of the Pan-African Lawyers’ Union.

In his address on the occasion, President Biya had expressed his gratitude to the Pan-African Lawyers’ Union for giving him such a prestigious prize.

He had also showered praises on those who contributed to the peaceful resolution of the border crisis between Cameroon and Nigeria, especially the former President of Nigeria, Olusegun Obasanjo and the successive Heads of State of Nigeria, the former Secretary General of the United Nations, Kofi Annan and his successor, Ban Ki-Moon, as well as the representatives of the four witness countries of the Greentree Agreement: Germany, the United States, France and the United Kingdom.

After the prize award ceremony, President Biya granted an audience to the former President of South Africa, Thabo Mbeki, during which they made an overview of the situation in Africa, in relation to peace and security.

This article was first published in The Guardian Post Edition No:3458 of Wednesday May 28, 2025