S.African President Calls for 'Defiant' Ideas to Solve Africa's Problems

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Saturday, August 24, 2002

S.African President Calls for 'Defiant' Ideas to Solve Africa's Problems

South African President ThaboMbeki on Friday called for creative and "perhaps defiant" ideas tosolve problems South Africa and the rest of the continent faced.

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South African President ThaboMbeki on Friday called for creative and "perhaps defiant" ideas tosolve problems South Africa and the rest of the continent faced.

"I get worried about a very strong herd instinct in the country," he said in Pretoria at the launch of a book containing his speeches and other utterances, the South African Press Associationreported.

"We have got to break that (tendency) to think in original waysand perhaps defiant, ways -- to say the president is wrong and to understand that the president is likely to reply."

He said the single biggest challenge he faced was finding ideasto address Africa's myriad of problems. Another task was communicating ideas so that they would be understood.

Mbeki said many outsiders were upbeat about the future of the country.

An example was a black United States businessman who accompanied him last week on an unannounced tour of venues for theupcoming World Summit for Sustainable Development.

Afterwards, the businessman said he was impressed by the way black and white South Africans were working together to get these venues ready.

"He said South Africa was bound to succeed," Mbeki told the guests at the book launch.

Entitled "Africa: Time to Define Yourself," it captures major speeches by Mbeki of funeral orations, press interviews and replies to questions in the parliament.

The proceeds from the sales, at 200 rand (about 20 US dollars) a copy, will go the Thabo Mbeki Fund for the disabled.

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