Opening remarks by patron of TMALI - Mr Thabo Mbeki

WELCOMING ADDRESS BY THABO MBEKI
TMALI LAUNCH CONFERENCE
SANDTON CONVENTION CENTRE, JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA
OCTOBER 11, 2010
Deputy Chair of the Council of UNISA, Dr Sibeletso Mokone-Matabane,
Principal and Vice Chancellor of UNISA, Prof Barney Pityana,
Our distinguished panellists, Presidents John Kufuor, Jaocquim Chissano and
Romano Prodi, Rev Dr Sam Kobia, Prof Abdoulaye Barthily, Dr Mamphela
Ramphele and Advocate Christine Qunta,
Distinguished delegates, members of the intelligentsia,
Friends, ladies and gentlemen:
I am indeed very honoured to welcome you to this important academic
Conference and thank you most sincerely for responding to our invitation to
join us here over the next three days.
It stands to reason that what has brought all of us here today is a shared
concern to ensure that Africa achieves her renaissance.
I am certain that over the decades all of us have witnessed the efforts Africa
has made towards the achievement of this goal. Nobody can contest the fact
that despite all the challenges, much has been done to achieve the all-round
development which our Continent needs.
And yet I know of no African who does not say that more and much more
needs to be done, that we should constantly identify the mistakes and the
false starts we have made and strive to correct them, that we should mobilise
among ourselves the human and material resources we would use to
accelerate Africa’s advance towards her renewal.
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All this derives from what we see happening on our Continent, which is
inconsistent with the aspirations of the masses of our people towards better
lives of freedom from want, from fear and tyranny, from ignorance and
preventable disease.
In this situation we could not avoid asking ourselves the question – what is to
be done?
This Conference and the discussions we begin today, as well as the Thabo
Mbeki African Leadership Institute which we launch at this Conference,
constitute an attempt to provide at least one answer to this important
question.
The fundamental proposition from which we proceed is that the
transformation which Africa needs to achieve her renaissance requires that
our Continent prepares the necessary human capital, the brain workers, who
should both conceptualise such transformation and participate in its
implementation.
Immanent in this proposition is the assertion that that human capital should
indeed be African, and therefore that to achieve our goals we must rely
decisively on African minds.
However I must hasten to add that I am not hereby suggesting an African
intellectual autarky, but seek to emphasise the imperative that we do
everything we can to build the critical mass of the human capital we need.
As indicated in the materials which explain the purpose of this Conference,
what we are trying to say was eloquently expressed by Paulo Freire, who
wrote that the Pedagogy of the Oppressed should produce a people whose
hands are “extended less and less in supplication, so that more and more they
become human hands which work, and working, transform the world.”
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Precisely and correctly to define its purpose, this Conference has as its theme
– Investing in Thought Leaders for Africa’s Renewal – which is also the motto
of the African Leadership Institute.
Accordingly, to make its own humble contribution to the task to build Africa’s
human capital, the Institute will focus on the development of these thought
leaders, informed by the goal to achieve the renewal of our Continent.
We are truly inspired that we have gathered here at this Conference the great
minds which will help us to answer some of the important questions about the
pedagogy which would enable us to produce these thought leaders. Once
more, please accept our sincere thanks for agreeing to extend to us a helping
hand.
Before I close, I would like to take this opportunity to reiterate our gratitude
to the University of South Africa for so readily agreeing to work with us as our
valued partner as, together, we do what we can and should to contribute to
the advancement of our Continent.
Once more, please accept our warm welcome to the Conference and best
wishes of its success.
Thank you.
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