Civil society groups reject President's National Dialogue as exclusionary
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The President's planned 'National Dialogue' is being sharply criticised by civil society groups, who say it is 'neither national nor a dialogue' as it fails to unite the country.
In an interview with IOL on Tuesday, Paul Maritz, Free SA Campaigns Director, contended the national exercise is neither truly national nor a meaningful conversation about the country's future.
The organisation stated that divisions can only be overcome through honest dialogue and that the current format excludes entire sectors of society, including key political parties.
'South Africans must remain in constant conversation about our shared future. Unfortunately, in this case, the President's planned National Dialogue is neither national nor a dialogue in any meaningful sense.
'Entire sectors of society, including key political parties, were excluded from the outset. That makes this look far more like a PR exercise than a sincere, open conversation about where we are 30 years into democracy and how we move forward together,' said Maritz.
Free SA expressed a pattern of disengagement from prominent foundations that had been expected to back the process.
The Steve Biko Foundation, the Thabo Mbeki Foundation, the Chief Albert Luthuli Foundation, the Desmond and Leah Tutu Foundation, the FW de Klerk Foundation, the Oliver and Adelaide Tambo Foundation, and the Strategic Dialogue Group have all withdrawn, casting a pall over what many hoped would be a more inclusive national conversation.
The organisations cited violations of the dialogue's core principles and called for postponement to ensure adequate preparation, coherence, and participatory integrity.
Responding to the withdrawal by the Thabo Mbeki Foundation, Free SA noted the importance of former President Thabo Mbeki's role in persuading parties and citizens to engage.
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'Former President Mbeki's role is significant, both because of his stature and because he represents a tradition of thoughtful political engagement,' the organisation said.
'His withdrawal, or that of organisations he supports, would be a serious blow to the credibility of this process. If respected voices like his are not fully on board, ordinary citizens will rightly question whether this is worth their time.'
The Democratic Alliance (DA), the country's second-largest political party and a governing partner in a national unity framework, is among the groups that have rejected the National Dialogue.
Free SA assesses that if a ruling coalition partner cannot be won to participate, the broader public is unlikely to be convinced of the process's legitimacy.
'If you cannot convince your coalition partner to participate, how can you hope to convince the rest of the country? The process loses legitimacy without their involvement before it even begins,' Maritz argued.
Meanwhile, The MK Party (uMkhonto weSizwe Party) has condemned the National Dialogue as an expensive political stunt, while services are collapsing nationwide.
The party described the Dialogue as a Trojan horse for backroom political deals, bypassing Parliament, and granting the Presidency unchecked influence over policy-making without democratic oversight.
'This National Dialogue is a Trojan horse for backroom political deals, not a platform for genuine national problem-solving," the party asserted.
The MK Party also highlighted what it calls urgent national failures that deserve attention before any dialogue can yield real progress.
It pointed to a litany of service delivery and governance crises across several provinces, arguing that public resources are being diverted to political theatre rather than addressing urgent needs:
Free SA and its critics argue that the National Dialogue risks becoming more about optics than addressing root causes such as poverty, inequality, and governance failures.
'From what we can see, it risks being nothing more than a political tool. It does not seriously address the root causes of poverty, inequality, and poor governance.
'A true national dialogue would require a willingness to confront uncomfortable truths and to make space for voices that may disagree with the President's vision,' Maritz said.
thabo.makwakwa@inl.co.za
IOL Politics
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