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IOL News
05-08-2025
- Politics
- IOL News
'We cannot proceed as if it's business as usual' – Ramaphosa slams ANC municipalities over poor service delivery
ANC leader, Cyril Ramaphosa has called on all ANC-lee municipalities to address services delivery challenges. Image: X/ANC ANC President Cyril Ramaphosa says ANC-led municipalities cannot operate as they wish while citizens continue to endure poor service delivery. He said that ANC-run municipalities must take urgent action to fix these issues. Ramaphosa made the remarks following the party's four-day National Executive Committee (NEC) meeting at the Germiston Civic Centre on Monday. Addressing NEC members, Ramaphosa said they were reminded that local government is the epicentre of infrastructure decline and poor service delivery. 'We agreed that we will show greater resolve and urgency in setting municipalities on a new path,' he said. 'The energy and determination being seen in cleaning up and fixing infrastructure in the eThekwini Metro should be translated into a national movement that must sweep through every town in our country. 'Our cities and towns - and specifically the communities on the ground - must feel and see that we are not going to allow municipalities to do as they wish while citizens endure the misery of poor service delivery.' Ramaphosa acknowledged that ANC-led municipalities are struggling to deliver services. Many municipalities across the country face significant challenges with service delivery, including potholes, water and electricity shortages, poor infrastructure development, inadequate sanitation, and corruption. His comments come as the country gears up for the upcoming 2026 local government elections. 'The ANC branch remains the most important link with our people. This means that each and every one of us must ensure that we build strong activist branches that can represent the needs and aspirations of local communities,' he said. Ramaphosa said a key part of the ANC's renewal is building activist branches that are active in communities, engaging with local government and helping to resolve service delivery challenges. He added that the ANC's election strategy workshop had called for the establishment of a 'service delivery war room' in every province and municipality. 'This is so we are able to build a responsive, people-centred and sustainable culture of dealing with the issues in all local municipalities, in line with our enduring commitment to build a better life for all,' he said. 'The marching order to all ANC-run municipalities and ward councillors is that we cannot proceed as if it continues to be business as usual.' He said extraordinary measures are needed to address local government challenges. The NEC will hold a special session in the coming weeks to focus more attention on these issues, he said. 'Preparations for the local government election campaign are underway. In April, we held our election strategy workshop.' 'Work is underway throughout the country to set up our election structures and appoint our election management. We call on all NEC members to ensure we give attention to the establishment of these election structures and ensure our most seasoned and experienced campaign managers are appointed to help with the campaign,' Ramaphosa added. IOL News previously reported that Ramaphosa said the party is still struggling to understand the decision by the South African Communist Party (SACP) to contest the 2026 local government elections independently and not to back the ANC at the polls. 'We recognise that the South African Communist Party is an independent political organisation that has the right to contest elections as it sees fit,' he said. He added that the ANC has no intention of interfering in the SACP's decision. 'As we have indicated to the South African Communist Party, our ally, we disagree with the decision. 'We believe that this decision has fundamental implications for the strategy and programme of the National Democratic Revolution and the alliance that has led the struggle for liberation in our country since the 1920s. 'While the alliance between the SACP and the ANC has spanned the better part of a century, this is not about the past. It is not about nostalgia,' Ramaphosa said. He expressed concern that the SACP contesting elections independently would 'significantly weaken the forces for national democratic change'. His comments follow remarks made by SACP general secretary Solly Mapaila, who said the party's plans to contest the 2029 general elections independently are on track. Speaking at the SACP's 104th birthday celebration at KwaDlangezwa Community Hall outside eMpangeni, KwaZulu-Natal, on Sunday, Mapaila said the SACP's 2022 congress had resolved that it should contest elections. 'The problem here is that we meet and agree on something, but we don't see the implementation of what we agreed upon as the alliance. I'm sick and tired of attending meaningless meetings,' he said.
IOL News
04-08-2025
- Business
- IOL News
Tension rises between KZN Cogta and uMkhanyakude Municipality after court ruling on salaries
KZN Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs MEC, Reverend Thulasizwe Buthelezi has called upon the Mayor of uMkhanyakude to ensure that the gates of the municipality are opened. Image: Supplied by KZN Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs The tension between the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta) and the uMkhanyakude Municipality in northern KZN is worsening, with the municipality accusing MEC Thulasizwe Buthelezi of misleading the public. In a statement, the municipality further accused Buthelezi of being on a crusade to undermine ANC-run municipalities in the province. This accusation stems from an order handed down by the Pietermaritzburg High Court on Friday. The South African Municipal Workers Union had taken the municipality and other defendants to court after workers' salaries were not paid due to a stand-off between Cogta and the municipality over the decision to appoint an administrator. The stand-off triggered a freezing of the municipality's bank account, and the administrator has also been blocked from accessing the municipality's offices. The municipality was named in the case as the first respondent, MEC Buthelezi as the second, the provincial government as the third, and administrator Bamba Ndwandwe as the fourth. Absa Bank appears as the fifth respondent. In the order, the court addressed the issue of salaries and ordered that the first respondent (municipality) and the fourth respondent (Ndwandwe) work together to ensure that the wages of the workers are paid and that payments are made on time. The court stated that, 'this shall apply mutatis mutandis for future months for as long as the first respondent (uMkhanyakude) is under provincial intervention and for as long as the fourth respondent (Ndwandwe) is in office as the provincial representative. The fourth respondent's rights and responsibilities will fall away if and when the current provincial intervention is terminated or he is discharged from office,' the order concluded. Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Advertisement Next Stay Close ✕ Ad loading Cogta stated that the order had affirmed the intervention as legal. 'The court's decision effectively reaffirms the authority of Mr. Bamba Ndwandwe as the administrator. Since the court has reserved judgment on the application to set aside the intervention, this means the intervention remains in place until the judgment is delivered. The court further ordered the municipal manager to submit the payroll to Mr Ndwandwe so that the Administrator can process the July salaries for municipal employees. 'MEC Buthelezi has called upon the Mayor of uMkhanyakude to ensure that the gates of the municipality are opened. This will allow the administrator to assume his duties and enable the resumption of normal operations for the benefit of the community. It is important to note that the MEC does not act on his own accord; it is a cabinet decision that he acted upon. There must be full cooperation from all municipalities when there is an intervention,' said the Cogta statement. In a statement, Municipal Speaker Solomon Mkhombo, however, disputed that the intervention was in force and accused the MEC of making misleading claims. 'We want to inform the public that the court has reserved its judgment on the matter regarding Buthelezi's decision to place uMkhanyakude District Municipality under administration, meaning that no final decision has been made. We urge the MEC to accurately represent the court's position and avoid spreading misinformation that could confuse or mislead the public,' said Mkhombo. 'The illegal act by Cogta and the bank to freeze the municipal account was uncalled for, and we thank the High Court for ruling in favour of uMkhanyakude employees. It is worth mentioning that a Cogta legal representative could not provide a substantive reason in court for why Cogta wants to place uMkhanyakude under administration.
IOL News
19-07-2025
- Politics
- IOL News
How apartheid nostalgia betrays South Africa's unfinished liberation
To compare the pothole-free roads of white Pretoria in the 1980s to ANC-run municipalities in Limpopo today, without examining these spatial legacies, is disingenuous. Image: Karen Singh/Screengrab THE narrative that dominates discussions of South Africa's post-apartheid journey often converges on a single, critical point: the perceived failure of the ANC to deliver on its grand promises. This critique, amplified by commentators like Prince Mashele, frequently contrasts the present with a romanticised past, suggesting an era of pristine infrastructure and efficient governance under apartheid. But this flawed comparison does more than obscure the truth—it actively distorts it. In a widely circulated interview on the SMWX podcast, Mashele claimed that under apartheid, 'there were no potholes on tar roads,' and that traffic lights always 'worked.' He continued, asserting that infrastructural decay, non-functional robots and crumbling roads, is uniquely 'an ANC thing.' This dangerously reductive view demonstrates selective amnesia. It is not merely a critique of governance, but a subtle sanitisation of apartheid's spatial and racial architecture. Undeniably, Mahmood Mamdani's analysis in Neither Settler nor Native illuminates why apartheid's geography persists under ANC rule. Mashele's statements reflect what Frantz Fanon called the 'Manichaean world' of the colonial order, where two towns existed: one of order and excess, and the other of filth and want. The black township continued to be 'a place of ill fame, peopled by men of ill repute.' The apartheid state maintained clean roads and working traffic lights in white areas not as a national standard, but as a function of racial privilege and spatial control. Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Advertisement Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Next Stay Close ✕ What Mashele conveniently ignores is that infrastructure under apartheid was race-coded. Paved roads, water services, and electricity were concentrated in white suburbs, while black townships and rural areas were systematically underdeveloped. In my own experience, growing up and living in places like Ntabamhlophe (western KwaZulu-Natal) or Ngobi (North West), traffic lights were non-existent—and still are, three decades into democratic rule under the ANC. These areas were not marginalised by accident but were designed to be so. Their underdevelopment was deliberate and institutionalised. To recall apartheid's so-called efficiency without context is to ignore its structural violence. Mashele's nostalgia constructs a binary: ANC equals decay; apartheid equals order. This formulation is historically inaccurate and morally indefensible. It is akin to praising the punctuality of trains under fascist regimes while ignoring the concentration camps they served. As Walter Rodney warned, colonial systems did not merely 'fail' to develop Africa, they underdeveloped it by design. Apartheid was no different. Mashele's technological nostalgia exemplifies what Jacob Dlamini identifies as 'restorative nostalgia', a desire to recover a mythical past cleansed of its oppressive foundations. This mode of nostalgia sanitises apartheid's brutality by fixating on its superficial order. In contrast, Dlamini's notion of 'reflective nostalgia' offers a more honest reckoning: a mourning of apartheid-era community networks or certainties that were fractured not by freedom itself, but by democracy's failure to fulfil its emancipatory promise. Therefore, true memory must confront, not conceal, the violence that underwrote apartheid's oppressive order. Mamdani's concept of 'decentralised despotism' in colonial governance is particularly instructive here. The apartheid state was a textbook case of bifurcated rule, where civil rights and services were afforded to whites. Meanwhile, black South Africans were governed through tribal authorities and customary law in the Bantustans. Infrastructure was not neutral but was weaponised to entrench spatial exclusion. This remains evident today, where apartheid's geography persists under a different political dispensation. To compare the pothole-free roads of white Pretoria in the 1980s to ANC-run municipalities in Limpopo today, without examining these spatial legacies, is disingenuous. The real question Mashele should be asking is why the ANC has failed to transform places like Ngobi, not why Sandton looks better maintained. What Mashele should be saying is that the ANC has not changed much in these places, because it inherited and perpetuated apartheid's geography. Indeed, the ANC has betrayed many of its foundational promises. Its 1994 Ready to Govern manifesto envisioned one million homes, 2.5 million electrified households, and a comprehensive public works programme to redress historical inequality. Instead, the neoliberal turn, engineered in part with the guidance of apartheid-era finance figures like Derek Keys and 'new' South Africa economic policy czars (Trevor Manuel, Thabo Mbeki, and Tito Mboweni), saw the abandonment of redistributive infrastructure plans in favour of market-led growth. This ideological surrender created the vacuum now filled by elite corruption and administrative collapse. Auditor-General reports confirm the rot: only three of 35 national departments received clean audits in recent years. Provinces like Limpopo have required constitutional interventions due to a total failure in service delivery. In this context, Mashele's outrage is justified. But to project this dysfunction onto a narrative that vindicates apartheid's design is intellectually dishonest. Fanon, in Black Skin, White Masks, explains this internalisation of colonial values as part of a broader inferiority complex. The formerly oppressed, he warns, may begin to admire the coloniser's systems, not because they were just, but because they were stable. Mashele's obsession with working traffic lights is a symptom of this pathology, a longing for colonial order dressed as political critique. This is not speaking truth to power, but speaking comfort to whiteness. The rise of self-proclaimed political analysts who gain traction through unchecked criticism of the ANC is not unexpected. It is part of South Africa's vibrant democratic culture. Such voices are indispensable. But they must be rooted in historical truth. As Edward Said argued in Representations of the Intellectual, the true public intellectual must interrogate power without becoming its tool. In contrast, Mashele's commentary risks becoming a performance of analysis, divorced from the very people it purports to represent. The danger lies not in criticism of the ANC, that is both necessary and overdue, but in what is lost when such critique adopts the language and assumptions of apartheid's defenders. Mashele's claim that the ANC 'broke the robots' implies that apartheid had a universal standard of governance. It did not. It had a racially exclusive logic. If the robots worked in town, it is because they were not meant to work in Seshego or Ntabankulu. Who, then, does Mashele speak for? Not the residents of Ntabamhlophe or Mogwase, who still wait for paved roads and functioning clinics. Not the youth of Nkowankowa, who must walk kilometres for access to water or schooling. He speaks not from the margins, but from a middle-class, or 'Grand Estate', vantage point that measures progress in suburban conveniences, rather than in structural transformation. Mashele's comments also obscure the ANC's complicity in failing to reverse apartheid's spatial logic. Post-1994 housing developments were often built on peripheral land, perpetuating apartheid's spatial exclusions. As urban scholar Neil Klug notes, these areas were poorly serviced and isolated, replicating the 40-40-40 rule: 40 km from the city, 40-square-metre homes, requiring 40% of income for commuting. This is not liberation but stagnation under new management. Patrick Bond's analyses of post-apartheid neoliberalism highlight how state-led, investor-friendly policies replaced development. The result: infrastructure for the elite, neglect for the majority. While 4.7 million 'housing opportunities' were created, 2.4 million families remain without homes. The state has effectively become a site of accumulation for a political class, rather than a vehicle for redistribution. Fanon warned that a national bourgeoisie that mimics colonial forms without dismantling them will eventually become 'the transmission belt between the nation and international capital.' This prophecy now defines the ANC's trajectory. However, even as we confront this reality, we must not let nostalgia obscure the past. 'There were no potholes' is not an argument but a mirage. Infrastructure that excludes cannot be glorified simply because it functioned for some. South Africa's future demands a radical reorientation. Mamdani speaks of the need to 'unmake permanent minorities' — to reverse spatial, economic, and legal segregation through systemic reform. That means reparative urban planning, land reform, and dignified service delivery — not superficial comparisons between the towns that excluded us and the municipalities that now ignore us. It means remembering that functioning infrastructure for the few is not a standard, but a sign of inequality. Again, the freedom the black majority wants is not material excess or socioeconomic rights alone, but more. Liberation is not measured by traffic lights alone, but by dignity, equity, and memory. The robots in white suburbs worked because the state ensured they would, at the expense of the black majority's humanity. To forget that is to betray those still waiting for the freedom promised at dusty crossroads where robots never gleamed. Potholes are real, but so is the history that built them—and the future we owe to those still left behind. Siyayibanga le economy! * Siyabonga Hadebe is an independent commentator based in Geneva on socio-economic, political and global matters. ** The views expressed here do not reflect those of the Sunday Independent, Independent Media, or IOL. Get the real story on the go: Follow the Sunday Independent on WhatsApp.
Eyewitness News
16-07-2025
- Politics
- Eyewitness News
ANC, SACP due to face off in hotly contested Polokwane by-election
POLOKWANE - The gloves are off in Polokwane, Limpopo, as alliance partners, the African National Congress (ANC) and the South African Communist Party (SACP), are due to face off in a hotly contested by-election. This is the first time the SACP has fielded its own candidate in an election since resolving in 2024 to no longer contest under the ANC banner. ALSO READ: - ANC appeals to Seshego residents to give the party another chance in by-elections - Polokwane SACP doesn't believe its lack of experience, resources will be a factor in by-elections - Obed Thabana SACP's first councillor candidate for contested Polokwane ward On Wednesday, voters from Polokwane's ward 13 will be casting their vote for a new councillor following the expulsion of Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) member Mafiwa Leballo for not attending council meetings. SACP councillor candidate Obed Thabana said poor service delivery, water shortages and billing discrepancies are the order of the day in the ANC-run Polokwane municipality. 'Then you have got the Juju Valley VD [voting district], very interesting one - an informal settlement where recently the ANC-led municipality went to demolish the shacks of the people of Juju Valley, saying they are not supposed to stay in Juju Valley.' ANC Limpopo secretary Reuben Madadzhe said formalisation of the Juju Valley informal settlement can only be brought by the ANC. 'What we're assuring the voters is that, give us some time, a chance as the ANC, so that we can link the ward councillor with our government. We are the leading party in the municipality and in the district and provincial administration.' Meanwhile, EFF leader Julius Malema is due to cast his ballot on Wednesday afternoon, as this is his home ward.
IOL News
08-07-2025
- Politics
- IOL News
GNU Chaos: Political elites betraying SA
An AI image depicts President Cyril Ramaphosa and the DA's federal council chairperson Helen Zille, racing towards a sinkhole as the MK and EFF look on curiously. Image: SoraAI THE Government of National Unity (GNU) was meant to be South Africa's grand compromise — a reluctant union between the ANC and DA to stabilise a fractured political landscape. But less than a year in, the DA's horseplay, including its decision to boycott the National Dialogue called by South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, has exposed this union as fundamentally unworkable, revealing a stark contrast in governing philosophies. While the ANC has at least nominally committed to inclusive nation-building processes, even endorsing a civil society-led National Dialogue it doesn't control, the DA has retreated into obstructionist tactics more suited to opposition benches than a party sharing governance. The ANC's willingness to participate in difficult national conversations, however imperfectly, stands in sharp relief against the DA's petulant withdrawal over what amounts reportedly to a single deputy ministerial post. As the GNU teeters, one thing becomes clear: the ANC may be struggling to reform, but the DA is proving it never truly wanted to govern in the first place. The DA has once again revealed its true colours, not as a party of principle, but as a faction of petulant obstructionists. Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Advertisement Next Stay Close ✕ Ad loading Its decision to boycott the National Dialogue is not just misguided; it is an outright betrayal of democratic engagement. And former president Thabo Mbeki, in a blistering open letter, has torn apart the DA's flimsy excuses with surgical precision. The DA claims it withdrew from the National Dialogue, reportedly, in protest of Deputy Minister Andrew Whitfield's dismissal from the GNU. DA leader John Steenhuisen issued an ultimatum: 'Fire ANC ministers in 48 hours or else!' When Ramaphosa ignored it, the DA declared the dialogue 'an ANC-run sham'. Helen Zille called it a 'hollow exercise' that would collapse without the DA's presence. Mbeki responded: 'The National Dialogue will have absolutely nothing to do with Ms Helen Zille's fertile imagination. It is very good that, at last, Ms Helen Zille has openly expressed her eminently arrogant and contemptuous view of the masses.' The DA signed the GNU agreement committing to an 'all-inclusive National Dialogue, Yet Zille now admits she was very opposed to it from the start.' Mbeki said: 'I would have found it logical if you and the DA had decided to withdraw from the GNU. Instead, you chose to sabotage a national conversation.' Meanwhile, the Joseph Mathunjwa-led Labour Party launched a legal and political offensive against Ramaphosa's National Dialogue initiative, branding it unconstitutional, fiscally reckless, and an attempt to sideline Parliament and the working class. The Labour Party, founded in 2024 with a clear worker-focused mandate, filed an urgent High Court application on June 18, seeking to interdict the process. The party argues that the estimated R700 million to R800m cost of the dialogue is 'unjustifiable' amid the country's deepening socio-economic crises. However, their main interdict application was not heard when the matter came before the court on July 4. Instead, the court entertained interventions from several high-profile civil society foundations — including the Desmond & Leah Tutu Legacy Foundation, the Strategic Dialogue Group, and the Thabo Mbeki, Steve Biko, and Albert Luthuli Foundations. 'South Africa doesn't need another elite summit behind closed doors,' said acting Secretary-General Lindi Mkhumbane. 'We already have Parliament, Nedlac, and civil society platforms. What we don't have is political will from the ruling elite to act on the people's demands.' The Labour Party's court papers demand: A declaratory order that the National Dialogue is unconstitutional and irrational. An interdict blocking public funds for the process, including payments to the appointed 'Eminent Persons Group.' A review of all executive decisions initiating the Dialogue. The case has become a flashpoint between the Labour Party and a coalition of prominent civil society groups aligned with the state. On June 30, the aforementioned foundations were granted leave to intervene, defending the Dialogue. Interim Labour Party President Joseph Mathunjwa said: 'These are not bystanders. These are political actors with deep ties to the post-apartheid ruling class. Their role isn't to unite the nation, it's to preserve an elite consensus forged behind closed doors.' He accused the foundations of betraying the legacies of the leaders they represent: 'The same communities (these leaders) stood for are ravaged by gender-based violence, unemployment, and poverty. Now these elites want a 'dialogue' instead of action.' Mathunjwa also criticised the procedural manoeuvring surrounding the case, particularly the fact that the foundations submitted answering affidavits before being granted leave to intervene — a step he described as 'arrogance, plain and simple'. The Labour Party claims the Dialogue is a smokescreen for IMF-driven austerity policies, including Eskom privatisation and neoliberal reforms. 'This is a rubber stamp for IMF instructions, nothing more,' Mathunjwa said. 'If Parliament is functional, why create a new platform? This isn't inclusion, it's circumvention.' The state's delayed filing of its answering papers — missing key deadlines — has further fuelled suspicions of procedural stalling. 'They missed the deadline, and now they're bringing in reinforcements to stall,' Mathunjwa said. 'The President cannot wake up and decide to allocate R800m without parliamentary scrutiny,' Mkhumbane argued. 'This is executive overreach masquerading as participation.' As the legal showdown looms, the Labour Party has called on ordinary South Africans to reject what it calls a 'PR stunt' designed to distract from worsening conditions across the country. 'Rape, violence, and poverty don't need a dialogue, they need action,' Mathunjwa declared. 'We're ready to meet them in court.' Political analyst and author Nicholas Woode-Smith delivered a scathing critique of Ramaphosa's National Dialogue, calling it a 'vanity project' designed more to distract South Africans than to solve the country's deepening crises. Woode-Smith, managing editor of *The Rational Standard* and a senior associate at the Free Market Foundation, argues that the event — budgeted at R700 million — was emblematic of Ramaphosa's leadership style. 'This is not going to be some miraculous meeting of the minds where all of South Africa's many issues are solved,' Woode-Smith said. 'On the contrary, Ramaphosa has set up the entire indaba to distract South Africans from the fact that he is completely underequipped to be our president.' He added: 'This entire affair could have been an email.' According to Woode-Smith, the high cost of the summit reflects its true nature — a political exercise in self-aggrandisement rather than a genuine attempt at national healing or problem-solving. 'The initial cost of R700m is just a testament to the fact that this entire event is a vanity project,' he stated. 'Ramaphosa is even taking advantage of condemnations of the quoted bill to try to act like he cares about cost-cutting. If he truly cared about saving money, he'd privatise Transnet and Eskom and stop bailing out the Post Office and SAA.' He continued: 'The fact that even a cent of taxpayer money is being spent on Ramaphosa's little pow-wow is unacceptable.' Woode-Smith questioned the very purpose of the National Dialogue, pointing out that there is no clear objective or roadmap for how it will lead to tangible change. 'It is also unclear what this National Dialogue aims to accomplish,' he said. 'Even if Ramaphosa hears contrary views, they will go ignored. The ANC has a history of not working with its partners. Why should we expect Ramaphosa to respect challenges to ANC policy in a National Dialogue when his party runs roughshod over his coalition partners in the Government of National Unity (GNU)?' He pointed to recent actions by the president as evidence of the ANC's inability to share power responsibly. 'The ANC does not know how to share power,' Woode-Smith asserted. 'At every turn, it has ignored the fact that it is a partner in government, and not a dictator. Ramaphosa firing the Democratic Alliance (DA) Minister Andrew Whitfield is just the most recent example. And no, his excuse is not sufficient. He is not a dictator who can unilaterally kick out ministers.' He further said: 'He is a partner in a coalition government who should be in constant dialogue with the other parties. He should try that dialogue before making it national.' The analyst also criticised the ruling party's legislative agenda, particularly the Basic Education Laws Amendment (BELA) Bill and expropriation without compensation, which he says were pushed through without meaningful consultation. 'Pushing through BELA and expropriation without compensation, while refusing to countenance any dissent are just the cherries on top of the farce that is pluralism in the GNU,' he said. Woode-Smith also took aim at the composition of the so-called 'Eminent Persons Group,' tasked with facilitating the dialogue. 'Meant to represent South Africa as leaders that reflect 'the great diversity of our nation,' this group is nowhere close to reflecting the true, political diversity of this country,' he argued. He noted that the list includes 'a few business leaders, trade unionists, religious leaders, researchers and politicians. But mostly just celebrities. Actors, writers, sportsmen, models.' He asked: 'Is this supposed to be a serious discussion to establish a way forward for our crumbling society, or a festival of shiny faces and shallow vibes?' 'There are no drastic alternative views to Ramaphosa's dogma present in the list,' Woode-Smith said. 'Only Lindiwe Mazibuko was a member of the opposition, and her departure from the DA was not cordial.' He concluded: 'Ramaphosa has crafted a list of yes-men, with some token business leaders who are likely to be too afraid to rock the boat to be too outspoken. This is not the guest list of a dialogue. It's that of an echo chamber.' In Woode-Smith's view, a real national dialogue would involve voices across the ideological spectrum — including those who strongly oppose the ANC's policies. 'A true national dialogue, with the aim of patching South Africa's rifts and working towards solving our problems needs to include parties from all sides of the spectrum,' he said. 'Most importantly, Ramaphosa's enemies; he should have invited Ernst Roets. He should have invited Kallie Kriel.' He added: 'Helen Zille has been an integral part of South Africa's post-1994 political space. Invite her. Invite at least a single representative from an opposition party. Take advantage of South Africa's host of world-class think tanks: the Institute of Race Relations, the Free Market Foundation, the Brenthurst Foundation, the Institute for Security Studies.' Woode-Smith accused the ANC of systematically excluding certain communities from governance. 'The fundamental issue of the ANC's governance has been that it doesn't want to include everyone,' he said. 'It wants to push Afrikaners, white people and other minorities further and further into the periphery. And when said minorities still thrive, they grow bitter.' Get the real story on the go: Follow the Sunday Independent on WhatsApp.
