Nomaka Epainette Mbeki, née Moerane, commonly known as "MaMbeki", was the mother ofFormer South African PresidentThabo Mbeki and widow of political activist and Rivonia trialist Govan Mbeki. She lived in Ngcingwane, a rural hamlet near Dutywa, one of South Africa's poorest municipalities. She was known 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."
Life
Born 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 was educated at Lovedale School before qualifying as a teacher at Adams College near Durban.
Community work
Mbeki was the brains behind the Khanyisa beadwork project, which has sustained the art of traditional African beadwork and provided livelihoods for 24 Ngcingwanean women. She was involved with 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 2003. Mbeki also established the Nomaka Mbeki Technical Senior Secondary School and owned the Goodwill Trading Store, whose cash-counting and bookkeeping she did herself. Sesotho-speaking and traditionalist, Mbeki placed great importance on education. Although it has been suggested, not least by Stofile, that she venture into politics, she has never been especially enamoured with the idea. "I wouldn't do as a member of parliament. You have to live with the people; you have to move among the people, to know their conditions . Premier Makhenkesi says, 'I think you should belong to my government.' I say, 'No, that's not proper because, when I get there, I'll be as dull as you people.'" Her son, Thabo, attributed much of his political success to the wisdom of his mother, but she disagreed: "I wouldn't call it wisdom; it's an attitude, the attitude of self-last. He should forget about the ego and listen to the next man. That's really what he must do. I think he has managed; I think he has managed.
Mbeki won the Community Builder of the Year award, a NAFCOC founder member award, a Transkei chamber stalwart award, the King Cetshwayo African Image Award, and the Eastern Cape arts and culture award for Khanyisa, given her by Arnold Stofile. She was also awarded the Order of the Baobab in 2006.
