About Dialogue for Justice

The Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory seeks to contribute to a just society by promoting the vision and work of its Founder and convening dialogue around critical social issues. 

Our Founder, the late Mr Nelson Mandela, based his entire life on the principle of dialogue and the art of listening and speaking to others; it is also the art of getting others to listen and speak to each other. 

Drawing on the contribution that he, his colleagues and his comrades made towards creating our fledgling democracy, the Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory encourages people to enter into dialogue – often about difficult subjects – in order to address the challenges we face today.

The objective of the Dialogue for Justice is to develop and sustain a dialogue platform promoting the Founder’s legacy. The Centre aims to utilise the history, experience, values, vision and leadership of its Founder to provide a non-partisan platform for public discourse on important social issues, and in doing so, contribute to policy decision-making.

South Africa occupies a unique space in Africa and globally as an example of a country that emerged from the morass of deeply rooted racial, cultural and political divides – primarily because of timely dialogue between all its stakeholders. Yet, the country continues to face a range of complex challenges. It is the Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory’s view that the original spirit of inclusive and open dialogue that broke the political deadlock needs re-invigoration.

Therefore the Centre intends bringing about meaningful conversations among all relevant stakeholders. Drawing on the rich traditions of transformative dialogue, problem-solving and social renewal that made possible South Africa’s remarkable transition, we hope to facilitate greater understanding and awareness about the problems faced by people, particularly in South Africa and Africa, and the possible solutions available to them.