Early life

The lowveld village of Mnombeleni (Arthurseat) in Bushbuckridge is wrapped around a hillock, at the top of which once stood a giant litchi tree, hence the name Mnombeleni - place of litchi trees. The tributary of the Sand River, which the locals named ‘tlula-u-ndzi-teka’, zigged and zagged across the rural village, slicing through the Kruger National Park, on its way back to the source.

In the afternoon of the last day of the last month of the last year of the forties, 31st December 1949, out of one of the homesteads that hung upon the slopes and spread all the way down to the foothill, a bundle of joy came screaming into the world of the living. On this day, the firstborn child of Pius Justice Masaswivona Khoza and Evelyn Sindzisani Khoza, was birthed. He was immediately given the biblical names of Reuel and Jethro, testimony of the faith of his parents who were prominent Christian converts in a village that also doubled up as a mission station of the Church of the Nazarene. His grandparents, Jotham Ndubazi Khoza and Marita Munene Khoza were overcome with joy. They immediately adopted baby Reuel as their own son, so much so that throughout his childhood, Reuel Khoza was blessed with two sets of parents, his real parents and his grandparents. This gave him a tremendous sense of security, protection and wellbeing, as he grew up in the grasslands of Arthurseat.

Finding out why

If there is any truth in what Mark Twain allegedly once said, namely that the two most important days in one's life are the day one is born, and the day one finds out why, then for Reuel Khoza, the distance between those two days was rather short. Khoza was only at primary school when he knew already that when he grows up he wants to be a school principal.

Former President of the Republic of South Africa and Patron of theThabo Mbeki Foundation

This very interesting book is being published when we, South Africans, have recently celebrated an eventful thirty years of democracy - Democracy@30! It is natural that a significant part of our celebration or observance of this important anniversary will be a critical or analytical assessment of our relatively new democracy, its strengths and weaknesses, its successes and failures. Happily, there will be many and varied voices that will be involved in this process of a collective assessment of where we have been and how we got to be where we are today. Necessarily such reflection will also be about our future because each one of us entertains the hope to be at a better place tomorrow.

The processes visualised in the succeeding paragraphs are about the important matter of knowledge. Some time ago I had an interesting occasion to address the challenging question of the ‘Democratisation of Knowledge and its Role in the Betterment of Society’. As part of the process of addressing this question, I cited two quotations. One of these was written by the eminent but self-taught 19th century English biologist and anthropologist, iiiThomas Huxley, who said: “The known is finite, the unknown infinite, - intellectually we stand on an islet in the midst of an illimitable ocean of inexplicability. Our business in every generation is to reclaim a little more land, to add something to the extent and the solidity of our possessions.”

Bheki: I am grateful for this opportunity. May we kindly begin with your seminal work, Let Africa Lead, in which you pose the powerful, quotable quote: “If not now, when? And if not us, then whom?” Looking at the continent today, would you say Africa is leading itself out of the coordinates of poverty and its image as a pariah continent? If so, what are some of the most prominent examples? If not, why do you think we are still struggling to lead ourselves out of the poverty narrative and pariah status?

Reuel: Thanks a lot. You’ve asked a number of important questions, and if I fail to address them adequately and comprehensively, you will flag the aspects that I have treated too scantily. In essence, I don't believe we are succeeding. What success we have is limited. Let's start with the Maghreb region - which includes Egypt and the Carthage - there is a long, proud history with Egypt, hieroglyphics, the River Nile, and early scientific agriculture. This region could rightfully claim pride of place where the deep sense of African history is concerned. However, I don't believe the Maghreb region is doing particularly well today. In Egypt as we speak now, it is somewhat difficult to tell who the president is. Libya was badly scuttled following the demise of brother leader, Colonel Gaddafi. Then there's Tunisia, which once seemed to herald a new dawn with its revolution, very little seems to have emerged since then. Morocco, meanwhile, is somewhat nondescript. There is a sense in which it identifies with Africa but given its proximity to the Mediterranean and Southern Europe, there remains a strong Eurocentric pull. I spent time in Morocco during my tenure at Eskom, and I observed how they see themselves as more civilised, being just a hop away from Spain and Italy. Overall, the Maghreb region is not making the kind of progress it ought to be making.