CIVIL SOCIETY CALLS FOR INCLUSIVE OVERSEEING OF NATIONAL DIALOGUE
5 February 2025
Convergence for South Africa (C4SA), as a civil society grouping, welcomes the call for a National Dialogue. Our numerous organisations do however express concern over the formation, implementation, management and control of such an important nation-building process.
We strongly believe that the National Dialogue should not turn into a dialogue amongst the elite. We propose that neither the Government of National Unity (GNU), political parties nor solely any foundation associated with political leaders, should be entrusted with overseeing the process.
We furthermore do not support the suggestion that Nedlac (National Economic Development and Labour Council) should oversee the process as the Council does not prioritise communities, but focuses mainly on cooperation between government, labour and business.
C4SA is a voluntary network of non-governmental organisations, including the Khulumani Support Group, OUTA, Centre for Public Witness, The United South Africa Movement (TUSAM) and the Ground Work Collective. It was formed in the run-up to the May 2024 elections to focus on voter education, voter registration, the IEC and election monitoring.
Following a meeting about the National Dialogue process, C4SA wishes to highlight that:
- The process is too important to be wasted; it should start from the grassroots level so that ordinary citizens are allowed a fair opportunity to give inputs.
- The role of political foundations, chiefly the Thabo Mbeki foundation, Nelson Mandela foundation, FW de Klerk foundation and the Ahmed Kathrada foundation, is being acknowledged. Yet, what is needed for the Dialogue is a fresh start and apolitical leadership with the foundations cooperating with, and providing support to other civil society organisations to maximise national engagement and impact.
- We suggest that the National Dialogue should consist of parallel processes in line with the different tiers of government: local, regional and national. This is to ensure a comprehensive and holistic approach to developing a strong, informed and engaged civil society in line with the preamble of our Constitution, whereby “…government is based on the will of the people and every citizen is equally protected by law; Improve the quality of life of all citizens and free the potential of each person; and Build a united and democratic South Africa”.
C4SA organisations have already begun this process of national dialogue. An example of which is the Centre for Public Witness under the leadership of theologian Dr Braam Hanekom. At this point, the centre has reached 76 towns, with the overwhelming impression gathered from participants that “towns are victims of national policy”.
- The issues raised in the abovementioned dialogues (including unemployment, crime, violence and drugs), revealed that citizens are experiencing an existential crisis. Some of the urgent actions called for are:
- That a definite shift in the country’s economic policy framework is needed;
- That dedicated action should be taken against corruption (particularly corruption manifesting at local government level, where public services are often gravely compromised by the deviation of critical budgets); and
- That a stronger focus should be placed on education.
Furthermore, C4SA is of the view that:
- While government funding was important in supporting the national dialogue process, it should not give the government the right to lead or control the process.
- There should be prior agreement on a clear strategy and executable priorities; and
- The oversight committee and management forum, envisaged by President Cyril Ramaphosa to oversee the process, should comprise between 20 and 25 individuals with appropriate skills required to ensure that the dialogue is a diverse and inclusive conversation.
Finally, we expect the President to address the above mentioned points, as well as include more detail about the National Dialogue, in his State of the Nation Address on Thursday, 6 February 2025.
| Khulumani Support Group | khulumani.net |
| OUTA | outa.co.za |
| Centre for Public Witness | publiekegetuienis.org |
| Groundwork Collective | groundworkcollective.org |
| TUSAM | tusam.co.za |
| Operation Watershed | operationwatershed.com |
| Afrikanerbond | abond.co.za |