Thabo Mkeki Leadership Institute

Goals and Objectives

The central goal of the Thabo Mbeki African Leadership Institute is to train African cadres for Africa’s renewal in a bid to help ensure that African hands are “extended less and less in supplication, so that more and more they become human hands which work and, working, transform the world.” (Paolo Freire: Pedagogy of the Oppressed)

Purpose

To invest in and liberate new thought leaders for Africa’s rejuvenation in the 21st century and beyond, in order to

• contribute to the ongoing process of the development of leadership on the continent.

• contribute to the resolution of the persistent problem of African under-development.

• contribute towards (re)building African institutions, in the areas of politics,culture, commerce, trade and investment, amongst others.

• contribute towards policy development on critical challenges facing the continent.

Vision

Investing in thought leaders for Africa’s renewal.

Mission statement

To become the centre of choice for research, teaching, learning and dialogue by African thought leaders to advance the African Renaissance.

Key study areas

• African ownership of its policy agenda

• Governance and responsibility to ensure African peace, stability and development

• Sustainable African resource management

• Harnessing Science and Technology for Africa’s renewal

• Africa (and its Diaspora)’s place within the world system, working towards an agenda of integration

• Gender integration and social justice for Africa’s renewal

Outcomes

• A paradigm shift regarding how Africans view themselves and how they are viewed by others

• Development of high quality scholarship and research on African issues

• African contribution towards global issues

• African political rebirth and development

Students of the Thabo Mbeki African Leadership Institute

• Professionals in different fields

• Members of different political parties and formations

• Civil servants and civil society activists

• Women and gender activists

• Students and youth

• Spiritual and/or religious leaders and activists

Attributes of the Thabo Mbeki African Leadership Institute ‘graduates’

• A strong sense of African identity (Afro-centrism as a tool towards mental liberation and emancipation)

• Possessing the best attributes of an authentic African leadership

• Empowered to act as organizers and catalysts for change for Africa’s renewal

• Empowered to become global citizens

• A commitment to serve humanity

Unisa as the institutional home of the Thabo Mbeki African Leadership Institute

Unisa promotes African thought, philosophy, interests and epistemology. It seeks to achieve this through its inquiry, scholarship and partnerships as well as by utilizing its rich human potential and infrastructure. Through these endeavours, Unisa seeks to address the legacy of neglected and marginalized issues relevant to South Africa and the rest of Africa.

Unisa aims to position itself as an institutional leader in open and distance learning. It also seeks to establish itself as a leading university that is one of the mega universities of the world. Unisa’s distance education infrastructure, evident in its central, regional and technological facilities for registrations, services and delivery to students, as well as its production and despatch systems, make it unique in South Africa in that it can comfortably cater for 250 000 students. Unisa’s foot print in Africa makes it an ideal partner with the Thabo Mbeki Foundation in developing African leaders for Africa’s renewal. More details

Also read Who Is Thabo Mbeki?