Based on the composition of the Mapungubwe Institute for Strategic Reflection as well as the intellectuals taking part in its various research projects, I make so bold as to infer that the establishment of the Mapungubwe Institute is another positive step in our intellectual and reflective firmament.

While we are all duty bound in all sectors of society to attend to the practical problems of today, we also need to appreciate that, without long-term reflection, without abstract engagement, we stand the danger of mistaking the wood for the trees.

What are my own experiences with regard to this issue of intellectual engagement and abstract reflection? To venture a view on this profound question, let me first declare that the Mapungubwe Institute has requested me to partly reflect on our experiences in the Robben Island prison, within the context of advancing our understanding of the liberation struggle.

So in a way this request is a tall order. Besides the fact that it requires time and space which we do not have, I should confess that I am one who shudders at the prospect of speaking in the personal pronoun.

I much prefer framing my thoughts within the body collective of history as it unfolds, with many actors responsible for its direction.

As you know, Robben Island was a prison where many South African freedom fighters were incarcerated.

It was a place which was meant to break the human spirit but instead provided a space for us prisoners to engage in ideas and contribute to the forging of a vision for the future of our country.

Historically, any liberation struggle has its own casualties: some pay with life and limb while some pay with their time.

Similarly, the prison community on Robben Island had one of two choices: either to sit and stare at the white prison walls in aimless reverie or exercise our minds on fundamental questions concerning the human condition.

We decided on the latter.

Learning was a collective effort, a shared exercise energised by ongoing debates where ideas overflowed, enabling each one of us to test his or her understanding in a continuous fashion. We formed classes, study groups and study circle groups where learners advanced from the very basics of reading and writing to the most complex issues.

Learners proceeded from elementary classes to the most advanced ones where such topics as history, political economy and philosophy were discussed. Such was the pervasive interests in learning from all of us that even during hard slogs in quarries in harsh weather conditions, we would still group ourselves according to classes and continue with the task of learning.

The learning method proceeded from the understanding that knowledge is not simply about skills to meet certain socio-economic requirements. It was clearly understood that beyond the conventionally instrumentalist philosophy of education, at a deeper level knowledge should seek to lift humanity to a higher plane through enabling people to understand the world they live in, in spite of itself.

We clearly understood that learning was more than the ability to read and write, important as this was, but crucially about critical consciousness, the ability to understand and explain human experience from a particular vantage point where the learner was at the centre and not a passive receptacle of ideas.

This approach to learning was emphasised by one of the great revolutionaries and thinkers of our movement, Moses Kotane, who said: “Proper education is a mirror in which man sees the world around him and learns to understand it – the right kind of education enables man to see what the world has been, what it is, and how it can be changed to suit him or his way of living.

“We must learn geography to know the universe, that there are other countries besides our own and to know the people of different nationalities inhabiting these countries.

“We must learn history to know and understand the story of man’s development through the ages – the various forms of social organisation and the causes of the rise and fall of those forms of human relationships.”

I am persuaded to believe that the founders of this institute were equally immersed in this theory of learning when they set up an organisation whose purpose it is to advance an understanding of the causes of the rise and fall of great civilisations such as Mapungubwe.

So let me emphasise that at Robben Island, the search for knowledge and insight was constantly driven by the need to find concrete and practical answers to the challenges with which our struggle for liberation presented us.

Our approach to sharpening our tools of analysis to deepen our understanding of our social conditions was fired by a spirit impelled by the struggle for social justice.

Undoubtedly, as prisoners on Robben Island, we comprised a mixed and varied lot.

There were those who were functionally illiterate and yet brought to the discourse the richest of experiences. Among these were individuals whose social wisdom was equal if not beyond that of university graduates.

Robben Island impressed upon me the significance of, above all, mobilising learning in a progressive direction and for the welfare of others.

One also began to appreciate the discipline of accepting the legitimacy of a different opinion, as this was the most effective mechanism of enriching one’s own capacity and correcting one’s errors.

Lastly, one also learnt to internalise the need to win over people through the superiority of one’s arguments and not through the power that comes with the position one holds.

As I mentioned earlier, we live in a world of complex challenges. This is a world where knowledge is at a premium.

The creation of new knowledge systems is a key determinant of a country’s ability to compete regionally and globally. Prime capital for the survival of societies is largely dependent upon turning knowledge into serviceable data and products.

Equally important is the necessity of research institutes forging functional links with the public and private sectors, civil society and the nation at large. I mention this for the simple reason that research and development should indeed be central to South Africa’s plans for shared growth, developing indigenous knowledge and technological enterprises, as well as developing human capital.

Experience convinces us that a society that bases itself on co-ordinated research and development is on the right track to a higher sense of self-understanding. Therefore, research institutes like the one we are launching tonight have a role to play in enabling society to understand the above complex challenges.

So, in judging you, history will ask whether the Mapungubwe Institute was able to:

n Break new ground in knowledge production?

n Make available space to inform the public on the complex challenges?

n Be a relevant and reliable partner in responding effectually to the unique South African and indeed African conditions?

n Promote the ideals of society informed first and foremost by the spirit of humanism? And lastly,

n How will ordinary South Africans relate to your work?

In my estimation, normatively, think tanks are meant to champion projects for democratic formation, democratic practices and democratic consolidation.

Therefore, in a democratic dispensation, it is to be expected that strategic reflection that takes place in research institutes will be geared towards building society and empowering all citizens irrespective of race, gender, religion and class.

Even though the notion of think tanks is a 20th century one, there is no doubt that, along with other conditions, strategic thinking has been at the core of most of the advances that humanity has made over the centuries.

Historically, the art and science of good leadership has found full expression among those decision-makers who valued the attitude of critical appraisal from among the population and especially its thought-leaders.

From the imbongi to the philosophical men and women of letters, this has been an important stratum in shaping social norms and values, and in kindling the aspirational in all of us.

I am aware that most of these ideas inform the Institute’s overall philosophical orientation.

The courage of the Mapungubwe Institute to focus on long-term research questions that have strategic interests for our country is commendable. Yet we cannot but repeat the truism that, while practice without theory is meaningless, the inverse is also true.

In thinking and acting autonomously, in objectively reflecting on social dynamics, it is critical always to pause and test abstract ideas against the reality of life. Shorn of this, theoretical engagement on its own can become an empty vessel, enthralled by its own noise and adding little value to societal endeavours.

Given the capacity you are developing, I am confident that you will carve your own niche as a key ideas broker. In this environment, you have a choice of either creatively identifying linkages and dissonances among disparate phenomena and identifying that which can take the country, the region and Africa to a higher level of development; or simply rehashing obvious truths and positing subjective views as the paragon of profound intellectual thought.

We are all here tonight because we expect the former. The firm and solid bedrock of goodwill abroad in society towards the Mapungubwe Institute derives from this confidence in the employees, the council, the board and the broad network of intellectuals that you are mobilising into this initiative!

We in government are committed to create an environment in which the best available talent in the country can contribute to the development of ideas.

The creation of the National Planning Commission, a body made up of independent minds and which is mandated to lead in national policy formulation, follows this system of thought.

Thus we do pledge, as we join you in celebrating the launch of the Mapungubwe Institute, to pay attention to the fruits of your hard intellectual labours.

This is all the more reason because, as I am told, Mapungubwe in its research approach emphasises as much as possible the marriage of rigour, scholarly objectivity and the link to praxis. As Antonio Gramsci said in 1929: “I’m a pessimist because of intelligence, but an optimist because of will.”

Challenge us through your research endeavours; shake us from the slumber of short-termism: in other words, fulfil the mission you have set yourselves, and you will have served the nation.

n This is an edited version of a speech by deputy president Motlanthe at The Castle, Midrand, at the launch of the Mapungubwe Institute of Strategic Reflection.