Honoured guests, esteemed partners, dedicated members of the Thabo Mbeki Foundation, and friends of the African Renaissance, good evening.
It is an honour to welcome you here tonight. We stand at the beginning of a truly significant week for the Thabo Mbeki Foundation – our 15th Anniversary Thanksgiving Week. Fifteen years ago, in October 2010, the Foundation was established to be a catalyst for the African Renaissance.
Tonight, as we launch this exhibition, we begin a week dedicated to thanksgiving, reflection, and renewal. We give thanks for the partners, thinkers, and citizens who have journeyed with us; we reflect on the challenges and successes that have shaped our continent; and we seek to renew our collective mission for the next chapter of Africa’s story.
Rebuilding Carthage: Our Unwavering Mission
The mission of the Thabo Mbeki Foundation means we are, in many ways, in the business of rebuilding Carthage. In 1994, at an OAU summit, President Nelson Mandela spoke of the Roman decree, Carthago Delenda Est – Carthage Must Be Destroyed. He reminded us that despite its physical destruction, the magnificence of that great African city, like the pyramids, the sculptures of Ghana and Mali, and the temples of Ethiopia, speaks to Africa’s foundational contribution to human civilisation.
The systems of colonialism that followed were a modern-day fulfilment of that Roman decree. As the great Amilcar Cabral taught us, to dominate a people is, above all, to destroy their cultural life.
This erasure was deliberate and systematic, designed to strip us of our histories, our languages, and our very identities. Our work at the Foundation is therefore to counter this destruction – to rebuild a magnificent Africa, not just in memory of its past, but in the full realisation of its future possibilities.
A New Container for Our Memory
But how do we rebuild? How do we counter centuries of calculated erasure?
In 1862, the remarkable Reverend Tiyo Soga, provided an answer. He helped establish a newspaper, Indaba, which he described as a “national container of memory”. He pleaded with his people, saying:
“Let the elderly pour their knowledge into this container. Let all our stories, folk and fairy tales, traditional views, and everything that was ever seen, heard, done, and all customs, let them be reported and kept in the national container”.
He saw that without conscious, active preservation, the essence of a people could be lost forever.
Tonight, we proudly unveil a new container of memory for our generation. This exhibition, “African Renaissance: Reimagining the Promise,” is our response to Tiyo Soga’s call. Developed in partnership with the creative minds at Totem Media, this is more than an exhibition; it is a provocation.
To mark our 15 years, we present 15 objects. But these are not just historical objects to be passively observed. Each object is a “seed we have inherited from our ancestors who thrived in precolonial times”.
From currency blades that challenge our ideas of wealth to the Manden Charter, an oral declaration of human rights, these seeds are meant to spark conversations about our continent’s opportunities, successes, challenges, and failures.
The Urgent Task of Cultural Restitution
Preserving our memory also demands that we actively reclaim what was stolen from us. The project of cultural restitution is not a peripheral concern; it is a central pillar in our quest for an African Renaissance. This is not merely about objects; it is about restoring the dignity of our peoples, reclaiming our historical narratives, and reaffirming our rightful place in human civilization. It is about addressing head-on the historical injustices of colonial dispossession.
This urgency was powerfully demonstrated by President Thabo Mbeki’s successful efforts to repatriate the remains of Saartjie Baartman from France. Her story embodies the dehumanisation that underpinned colonialism, and her return was a landmark symbol of reclaiming African dignity. Yet, her case is just one among countless others. Millions of African artifacts, from sacred relics to works of immense cultural significance, remain in foreign museums and private collections. Each of these objects represents a piece of Africa’s cultural, economic, political, social, and technological puzzle, and their absence leaves a profound void in our continent’s ability to fully understand and celebrate our past.
The Exhibition, Restitution, and Our Future Home
This exhibition, therefore, does more than just display ideas; it makes the case for restitution. The 15 seeds you see here represent the very spirit, knowledge, and genius contained within the tangible heritage that was forcibly removed from our shores. By showing you the richness of a Kuba basket, the wisdom in divination tools, or the innovation of the Timbuktu manuscripts, we are showing you precisely what is missing from our national containers of memory. This exhibition is our argument for why these treasures must come home. It is a catalyst for a cultural renaissance and unity.
This then begs the question: once we bring our heritage home, where do we keep it? How do we ensure it is preserved and made accessible for all Africans?
One answer lies in the Thabo Mbeki Presidential Centre.
Envisioned as a multidisciplinary hub and a pilgrimage destination, the Thabo Mbeki Presidential Centre’s mandate is to be the foremost repository for the tangible and intangible material that has shaped Africa’s journey. Later this week, we will hold the ground blessing ceremony for the Thabo Mbeki Presidential Centre, marking its monumental transition from vision to reality. This exhibition is a glimpse of the conversations the Thabo Mbeki Presidential Centre will house permanently. It is a living preview of the great work that lies ahead.
An Invitation to Dialogue
We have designed this exhibition to be a living forum where the past, present, and future collide. The exhibition is structured into four interconnected pods, each exploring a core theme: Economics, Inclusion, Innovation, and Identity.
We invite you to walk through them, not as spectators, but as participants.
Engage with the questions posed by each object. Scan the QR codes that lead to a deeper virtual experience.
The journey of this exhibition has been a collective one, and I must extend our deepest gratitude to our partners, Totem Media, for their incredible work in bringing this complex and beautiful vision to life.
The First Step in a Week of Renewal
This launch is just the beginning. It is the first event in a week dedicated to reaffirming our mission. It will be followed by our inaugural Golf Day to drive our future impact, the groundbreaking ceremony for the Thabo Mbeki Presidential Centre – a permanent home for these critical conversations – and will culminate in our 15th Anniversary Thanksgiving Gala Dinner on Saturday.
As Cheikh Anta Diop powerfully stated, looking toward our rich past is the best way to conceive and build our cultural future. This exhibition is an act of faith; faith that by planting these 15 seeds of memory in the fertile ground of public discourse, we can help nurture a future where no young African will ever have to ask, “Where are my stories? Where is my history?”.
For us, as a Foundation, it is important that we all engage with this exhibition. Let us argue, debate, reflect, and, most importantly, reimagine.
It is with immense pride and profound hope that we declare the “African Renaissance: Reimagining the Promise” exhibition officially open.
Thank you.