Epainette Mbeki

Who is Epainette Mbeki?

Epainette Mbeki, commonly known as "MaMbeki", is the mother of former South African president Thabo Mbeki and widow of political activist Govan Mbeki. She lives in Ngcingwane, a rural hamlet near Dutywa, one of South Africa's poorest municipalities. She is highly respected there both for her auspicious relatives and, more importantly to her, her endeavours to improve the residents' quality of life. Gillian Rennie, in an award-winning profile, quoted a co-worker as saying, "She is not like other retired people, getting a pension and saying, 'Let me play golf and fish a bit.' The old lady is a humble person."

Born Nomaka Epainette Moerane, at Mount Fletcher in the Drakensberg, she grew up in humble environs, the sixth of seven children. Early every morning before school, she would chase birds from her father's sorghum fields before returning after school for further bird-chasing. She cites this as the reason for the industrious aptitude that she retains into her nineties, an aptitude that she wishes others would share. Epainette was educated at Lovedale School before qualifying as a teacher at Adams College near Durban.

Mbeki is the brains behind the Khanyisa beadwork project, which has sustained the art of traditional African beadwork and provided livelihoods for 24 Ngcingwanean women. She is a prominent force in the Linda Mbeki Hospice, which operates from the former Mbeki home in Mbewuleni, and was founded to commemorate the life of her daughter, who died in 2005. Mbeki also established the Nomaka Mbeki Technical Senior Secondary School and owns the Goodwill Trading Store, whose cash-counting and bookkeeping she does herself.