Mbeki made the remarks in an interview with SABC while commenting on the recent return of former Congolese President Joseph Kabila to his homeland after two years in exile in South Africa.
Kabila arrived in the rebel-controlled city of Goma last week after the Congolese Senate lifted his immunity from prosecution over allegations of supporting the AFC/M23 group.
During the interview, Mbeki clarified that he has not spoken with Kabila since the recent developments.
'I'm sure I will be able to speak to him at some point,' Mbeki said.
But the 82-year-old former head of state stressed that the conflict in the DRC, which has dragged on for decades, lies with the Congolese government's failure to address the country's internal challenges effectively.
Mbeki criticized successive governments in Kinshasa, including Kabila's, for not fully understanding the complexities of the Congo and its colonial legacy. He invoked the vision of Patrice Lumumba, the DRC's iconic independence leader, who prioritized uniting the Congolese people against the divisions sown by Belgian colonial rule.
'When the government in Kinshasa is hostile to the Banyamulenge in the eastern Congo because they are Rwandan-speaking, or takes a position against Kabila, who comes from the Katanga region, say he's a traitor, he's supporting M23, punish him, the whole population of Katanga is going to be against that government in Kinshasa,' Mbeki explained.
'It doesn't solve anything for Kinshasa or the Congo.'
Addressing the ongoing talks between the DRC, the United States, and Rwanda to resolve the conflict, Mbeki noted that little would be achieved unless the Congolese government is committed to resolving its own issues internally by engaging with the rebels and addressing their concerns, including decades of marginalisation and persecution.
'The notion that the government of the Congo and the government of Rwanda can meet and sign a peace agreement to solve the problems of the eastern Congo is wrong,' he stated, noting that past attempts at such agreements have failed to address the root causes of the conflict.
'The problems of eastern Congo are domestic to the Congo. They don't originate from outside its borders," he added, in an apparent reference to the DRC's repeated claims that Rwanda is destabilising the eastern region by backing M23.
Rwanda has consistently denied Congo's allegations, insisting that its main concern is the presence of the FDLR militia, linked to the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi, in the neighbouring country, which poses a security threat to Rwanda.
Meanwhile, Mbeki has advocated for a Congolese-led approach to resolve the conflict in the east, reiterating the importance of dialogue between Kinshasa and groups like M23.
'Kinshasa must talk to M23; they must sort out all of this,' he urged. While discussions with neighboring countries like Rwanda are necessary, Mbeki stressed, 'The solution to the Congo problem does not lie in Kigali; it lies in Kinshasa.'
Mbeki has been vocal about the crisis in eastern Congo and has, in the past, criticised efforts to resolve it through military action rather than political diplomacy.
Wycliffe Nyamasege
