Prof Barney Pityana, Former President Thabo Mbeki, Dr Maureen Tong (Thabo Mbeki Leadership Institute), Mrs Zanele Mbeki & Prof Mandla Makhanya |
The Patron of the Thabo Mbeki Leadership Institute, former President Thabo Mbeki, delivered the Inaugural Annual Thabo Mbeki Lecture at the ZK Mathews Hall on 27 May 2010.
In his address, he sought to respond to the question that was asked by a World Bank report provocatively entitled “Can Africa claim the 21st century?” He began by acknowledging that claiming the future involves enormous challenges. Mr Mbeki drew a picture of where Africa has come from and the challenges it has overcome. It soon became clear that this question is an age-old question that many African intellectuals have engaged in. He said that Cheik Anta Diop spent a long time answering the question: “What is our history?” “Here was a time, not long ago, when the idea itself of Africans having a history was considered unsound, academically wrong. Now his answer was, ‘Not only do we have a history, we are the root of humanity; we were there at the beginning. That is to say that all human beings are kin to us, whether they recognise that or not’.”
He mentioned the fact that there have been many strides taken by Africa itself to see it thrive and progress. There are a number of strategic and policy plans that have been adopted that seek to make Africa better. “The challenge we confront is to answer the question practically. What shall we do to translate the policies and programmes our Continent has adopted to achieve Africa’s renewal into reality?”
He said that in celebration of Africa Day, we must therefore identify the practical steps that must be taken to achieve this objective. He spoke of six practical steps, the first being to build and nurture the native intellectual cadre committed to the transformation of Africa as visualised by leading African patriots and thinkers for 150 years. “An urgent task in this regard is to rebuild and sustain our universities and other centres of learning, attract back to Africa intellectuals who have migrated to the developed North, build strong links with the intelligentsia in the African Diaspora, and give them the time and space they need to help determine the future of Africans.” The second is to develop the capacity in our state, government, business and civil society institutions to implement the already agreed-upon continental programmes, which visualise a renewed Africa of peace, democracy, development, unity and pride in its place as “the driving force behind vibrant development of human society in the 21st century. “Thirdly, we should resurrect the African Renaissance Movement which many African patriots in many African countries launched at the beginning of the 21st century, which sought to mobilise and unite the African masses so that, once more, as we did in the struggle against colonialism and apartheid, we act as our own liberators.”
The forth practical step is that Africans must increase the momentum in terms of which the development and transformation of Africa came to take its rightful and prominent place in the global agenda. “In this context our international partners agreed to join us in creating the necessary institutional mechanisms to give practical effect to the kind of partnership spelt out in NEPAD, and effectively address the challenge of mutual accountability,” he said. He added that Africa must speak with one voice. “Another matter on which we must act is to achieve African cohesion in terms both of what the Continent says to itself and what it says to the rest of the world.” He emphasised that the objective to achieve the unity of our Continent, perhaps as a federation or confederation of states, will take time to achieve. “However this does not mean that Africa cannot speak with one voice on matters of common interest.”
His last point was informed by what Tiyo Soga said almost 150 years ago. “We must develop the media and the means to communicate correctly about who we are, what we are, what we are doing to change our condition, and where we seek to be tomorrow and the day after.”
He then wished the South African soccer team, Bafana Bafana, well in the upcoming World Cup. “We must, at the same time, use the occasion of the Soccer World Cup to inspire ourselves to persist on our journey of hope, supporting the decisions taken by the African Union which make this decade the African Women’s Decade and this year, the Year of Promoting Peace through Sports.” |
