Last week, my global Public Relations company asked me whether I would comment on the headline statement that read, “We won’t be silent as apartheid is perpetrated against others”. It was a headline extracted from a speech made by President Cyril Ramaphosa to the United Nations.

I responded by saying, “I think that is too controversial for me to comment on.”

At the time, I was at a Global Speaker’s Summit in Bali.

What I assumed, based on the headline, was that our president might be making a statement that was controversial, even within the fledgling, newly formed Government of National Unity.

As a peacemaker, I have avidly avoided conflict my whole life. I also assiduously avoided judgement wherever possible. Even as an activist in the anti-apartheid movement from 1976 to 1996, I tried to be invisible. I was never in the front line of marches.

As a sociologist, and having studied labour movements all over the world, I knew it was the economic power of workers that would topple the Apartheid Government and not just the marches of the United Democratic Front and other Anti-Apartheid organisations. That is why I chose to be a trade union organiser who became part of the formation of COSATU.

It was not always an easy road. I was ostracised from my family of origin as I embraced a new and more militant family.

When I became an entrepreneur over 27 years ago, I retreated from my past. Many people did not know how deeply involved I was in the ANC. It was only when I had the courage to write my book “Belonging” that I revisited the library of my mind, the memories, and all the leaders who had shaped my life and my values in so many ways.

Writing my story made sense of my whole life, even so, I did not want to become controversial.

But during the summit, I could analyse President Ramaphosa’s full statement to the United Nations.

It began with a statement about the founding principles of the United Nations Charter – “fundamental human rights, the dignity and worth of every person and the equal rights of nations large and small.”

And I discovered my assumptions were indeed ill-founded.

The statement President Ramaphosa made was not representative of the ANC, but of the newly formed Government of National Unity. He was no longer representing his party, but his country. His statements were not pro or anti any country. They were pro peace. They were a plea for reconciliation and resolution.

He revisited and regaled the miracle that took place around 1994 in South Africa. The moment when the recently released Nelson Mandela became a global icon of reconciliation as South Africa averted civil war in the transition to democracy. And as a sociologist, I realised how often the headlines in modern society are based on assumptions rather than facts, research or context.

How often are we led down a path of assumptions?

We have become a society of gullible half-truths, of distorted reality, of lack of context or nuance or even tone. Social media has made us all experts in different fields, without the rigor of academic research. It can lead us down different paths, of perceptions, of opinions, of vehement division and differences, without true analysis or debate.

On reflecting on this thinking, and the increasing trend in society to assume, I developed a model to better understand critical thinking.

It highlights two different ways of responding to information – one based on assumptive thinking and the other critical thinking – the inverse of assumptive thinking.

Critical thinking requires rigorous research and an understanding of both context and history.

I leave you with this question. What does the word assumption mean? It means a thing that is accepted as true or certain to happen without proof. A presupposition is a thing tacitly assumed beforehand at the beginning of a line of argument or course of action. In a growing culture of presupposition and assumptions we are building a divided world, a divided narrative and us versus them monologue.

In a complex world of challenges, we have to be brave enough to stand for something or otherwise we will fall for everything.

And so, I quote President Ramaphosa in his final plea to the United Nations which read, “Through dialogue, through respect for the rule of law, through the advancement of human rights, through co-operation and solidarity, we can – and we will – achieve a better world”.

In my experience of working directly under President Ramaphosa, while we were working at the National Union of Mine Workers I experienced him as an exceptionally incisive and strategic leader, a consummate gentleman, but above all, a bridge builder in extremely difficult and complex situations and environments.

And so, I stepped into courage, with the assumption that I might be judged, that I might be construed as controversial.

Being controversial means being curious.

It was however Winston Churchill, quoting TS Elliot, who said, “Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak. Courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen.”