By most accounts, the first convention of the national dialogue was a damp squib. Now is the opportunity to save the all-important dialogue from failure.
On August 15-16, the convention was held in Pretoria amid controversy over its arrangement. Seven legacy foundations of prominent South Africans boycotted the event, as did the DA, MK, EFF, Freedom Front+ and other parties.
This has left the legitimacy of the dialogue in question. As feared by the foundations, the government’s role was elevated and little was achieved.
Remarks by President Cyril Ramaphosa, who opened the convention, failed to inspire confidence or to achieve its stated goal: a call to action to all South Africans to reimagine a future they want and deserve after 31 years of all-race democracy.
The foundations — of Thabo Mbeki, Steve Biko, FW de Klerk, Leah and Desmond Tutu, Albert Luthuli and Oliver and Adelaide Tambo — pulled out from the convention after their concerns were ignored by the presidency. These included inadequate preparations, lack of transparency about budget issues and that the convention was government-led not citizen-led as was proposed.
Their proposal for the convention to be postponed to September was also shot down.
Also, no efforts were made by the organisers, including the underfunded National Economic Development and Labour Council (Nedlac), to persuade the parties that stayed away from the event. For example, the DA is boycotting the dialogue because of its protest at the sacking of Andrew Whitfield, as deputy trade, industry & competition minister, and failure by Ramaphosa to fire ANC ministers the party deems unfit to hold office.
Nor was any attempt made to address an unfortunate narrative suggesting that Mbeki, the former president and main driver of the dialogue idea, had snubbed the event. This unhelpful narrative continued days after the event.
Instead, the presidency has been at pains to try to snatch victory out of the jaws of defeat in the aftermath.
In effect, the convention could hardly be regarded as inclusive.
The controversies about the convention left the Eminent Persons Group, a group of 32 South Africans, embarrassed. The group, co-led by academic Tinyiko Maluleke and former politician Roelf Meyer, was established to promote and champion the dialogue.
Since its establishment a month ago, it has met a few times. No public communications have come out of it as would be expected. It has no independent secretariat to facilitate its voluntary work; which casts doubts on its distance from the government. As matters stand, the convention, a part of the dialogue effort, was dominated by the ANC and its component of the government of national unity.
If there is no radical course correction soon, the dialogue will turn out to be one among black people and not the rest of the population. This would be a great pity, and amount to failure.
No effort should be spared in saving the dialogue from becoming another failed social compact exercise.
Fortunately, it seems there are still adults in the room. These are, however, few.
This week, the EPG reached out to the legacy foundations in a public letter. The measured letter was an invitation to explore ways of getting the dialogue back on track.
This invitation should be accepted by the foundations. In the past year, the foundations, operating on shoestring budgets, have done a lot of preparatory work including documents to start a national conversation on a range of issues. This work shouldn’t be lost.
Unfortunately, government has opted to dig in its heels. No known attempt has been made since the convention debacle.
It has also been sending troubling mixed signals about how it intends to treat the outcome of the dialogue. There will be no point for the dialogue to take place if the president, as its convener, believes he can cherry-pick what recommendation to implement.
Critically, the dialogue ought to be shielded from next year’s electioneering.
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.