South Quotes - Page 36

• For a while I got into the South Pacific theater of World War II. I read "American Caesar" by William Manchester, the biography of General MacArthur. Because of that I ended up reading "Tales of the South Pacific" by James Michener and then because of that reading his "Hawaii." That is what happens.

  Dave Barry

  War, Reading, Hawaii

  Source: www.bostonglobe.com

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• Those days [of the Vietnam War] you couldn't get on a bus going to the South without expecting a riot over something or the other. All of that has disappeared thanks to Lyndon Johnson.

  John Kenneth Galbraith

  War, Vietnam, Thanks

  Source: progressive.org

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• My theatrical background was in the great work of the South African playwright Athol Fugard.

  Danny Glover

  Great Work, Backgrounds, Theatrical

  Source: progressive.org

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• If you look for instance at the automobile industry, part of the reason that you have the expansion of that sector, is precisely because we have gone out to talk to the automobile companies to explain government policy with regard to that sector, to talk to them about the MIDP and things like that. And indeed, it has been a very important part of attracting those investors to put in money in the South African economy and build motorcars in South Africa.

  Thabo Mbeki

  Government, Important, Expansion

  Source: www.gov.za

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• For an investor who is sitting in the United States, and South Africa is very far from the United States, you need to go out to that investor to say, these are the possibilities in this particular sector.

  Thabo Mbeki

  United States, Needs, Sitting

  Source: www.gov.za

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• The principal investors in the South African economy are South Africans. And this is something, I think, we should really pay attention to.

  Thabo Mbeki

  Thinking, Attention, Pay

  Source: www.gov.za

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• There is a tendency just to talk about foreign investors. Over 80 per cent of new investment in the South African economy is South African and therefore the engagement of the South African investor is also a critical part of this process.

  Thabo Mbeki

  Engagement, Investment, Economy

  Source: www.gov.za

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• I should also say that apart from the negotiations that are taking place within the WTO, we are ourselves involved in all manner of bilateral negotiations, or, if they are not bilateral, with the South African Customs Union and the European Union. All the member countries of the European Union have now ratified the agreement that we have with the EU and that opens up the EU market in various ways.

  Thabo Mbeki

  Country, Agreement, Way

  Source: www.gov.za

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• We are in the process of negotiating an agreement with the United States. We will be negotiating agreements with India and China. We are in the process of negotiating an agreement with Mercosur, South America. So there are a number of these trade agreements in the major markets of the world.

  Thabo Mbeki

  Numbers, America, Agreement

  Source: www.gov.za

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• While the WTO negotiations will continue, there are other trade negotiations of a bilateral nature, which among other things, should help to open up these markets for South African products.

  Thabo Mbeki

  Helping, Negotiation, Should

  Source: www.gov.za

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• We have a series of regular meetings with South African business. Big business. Black business. Agriculture. As well, of course, with the trade unions. A whole series of meetings like that which engage issues that these South African social partners need to address.

  Thabo Mbeki

  Agriculture, Issues, Black

  Source: www.gov.za

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• We raised the matter of an agreement that was reached at the Growth and Development Summit, which was that we should access a certain part, 5% was mentioned, of the funds in the hands of the institutional investors, domestically, for investment in the real economy. That being an agreement of the Growth and Development Summit, we will engage South African business to see how we can make that a practical thing. So, there is a different set of engagement with local business.

  Thabo Mbeki

  Real, Hands, Agreement

  Source: www.gov.za

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• The point we are making is that the general global messages have been communicated, about the politics of South Africa, about the economy in general, all of these general questions. The rest of the world understands these things and are saying, let's now come to the specific things so that even we, as big corporate chiefs from around the world, can assist in these areas, which you have decided are your priority areas.

  Thabo Mbeki

  Priorities, Messages, World

  Source: www.gov.za

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• One of the issues that I have raised in that context is our transport system, road, rail and ports. We have raised this before, that the South African economy has grown at a rate that has overtaken the capacity of the transport system. And therefore, we have said that it is necessary to expand our capacity in the ports.

  Thabo Mbeki

  Issues, Economy, Said

  Source: www.gov.za

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• When I was in government, the South African economy was growing at 4.5% - 5%. But then came the global financial crisis of 2008/2009, and so the global economy shrunk. That hit South Africa very hard, because then the export markets shrunk, and that includes China, which has become one of the main trade partners with South Africa. Also, the slowdown in the Chinese economy affected South Africa. The result was that during that whole period, South Africa lost something like a million jobs because of external factors.

  Thabo Mbeki

  Jobs, Government, Chinese

  Source: www.tregernomics.com

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• It's a big problem in South Africa up to this day: many people want to open factories, they want to invest, but then they discover that they don't have the skilled people to employ.

  Thabo Mbeki

  People, Want, Problem

  Interview with Adam Treger, www.tregernomics.com. October 14, 2016.

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• South Africa has faced many problems in the past. You would understand those problems if you understood the history of the struggle to get rid of Apartheid and the struggle to establish democracy.

  Thabo Mbeki

  Struggle, Past, Democracy

  "Tregernomics Interview with President Thabo Mbeki". Interview with Adam Treger, www.mbeki.org. October 31, 2016.

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• South Africa now needs skilled and educated people to say 'How do we manage and develop this democratic country?'

  Thabo Mbeki

  Country, People, Needs

  "Tregernomics Interview with President Thabo Mbeki". Interview with Adam Treger, www.mbeki.org. October 31, 2016.

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• I would regret it if I'd failed at school and university, because if I had, I would have lacked the levels of education necessary to making a serious contribution to building South Africa.

  Thabo Mbeki

  Regret, School, Levels

  Interview with Adam Treger, www.tregernomics.com. October 14, 2016.

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• I don't know why you should isolate women in this regard. If you have a traditional leader who says 'I am the sole exclusive ruler, I am the autocrat', it will affect everybody in the area, whether they are men or women. The challenge that South Africa faces, and it is not a new challenge, a whole range of African countries have faced this challenge, is that where you have institutional traditional leadership, which in our country is protected by the Constitution, how does that institution function side by side with a democratic system?

  Thabo Mbeki

  Country, Men, Leader

  Source: www.gov.za

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• The problem is not unique; the challenge is not unique to South Africa. Other African countries have faced it. But in our case, we have got to solve the problem. You have got an institutional traditional leadership, which functions in a particular way, in for instance, your communal areas.

  Thabo Mbeki

  Country, Unique, Challenges

  Source: www.gov.za

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• What moved us was not so much what would it do for South Africa, but there has been a great keenness on the Continent that the location of the Pan African Parliament must add to its credibility. And, so we said, fine, it's a contribution to this process of the democratisation of the African Continent.

  Thabo Mbeki

  Add, Location, Keenness

  Source: www.gov.za

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• We do not have a South African as a member of the African Commission. The President of the Commission comes from Mali, the Deputy comes from Rwanda and then we have got all these other members, ordinary commissioners. There is no South African there. And the reason, again, for that is not because we didn't have South Africans who are competent.

  Thabo Mbeki

  President, Ordinary, Reason

  Source: www.gov.za

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• A number of African countries came to us and said, we request that South Africa should not field a candidate, because so many other African countries wanted to, and, in any case, South Africa would continue to play a role in terms of building the African Union, and so on. And they actually said, please don't field a candidate, and we didn't. As I have said, it is not because we didn't have people who are competent to serve in these positions.

  Thabo Mbeki

  Country, Play, Numbers

  Source: www.gov.za

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• I don't think there would be many examples of South Africa pushing its weight around the African Continent. I don't think the facts would substantiate that argument.

  Thabo Mbeki

  Thinking, Would Be, Weight

  Source: www.gov.za

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