This National Dialogue is flawed, and its ambitions, in this form, may be unrealistic. Yet it marks a radical departure from past government-led engagements. In some ways, it is a quiet admission: the fate of the nation cannot be left to a government that has poor political will and evidently no solutions. For once, the call is going to the public – overwhelmingly poor and working-class – for answers.
The poor and working class have long been denied a seat at the table, despite holding valid, urgent solutions. That is why we are here: to disrupt any drift towards a state- or NGO-centric process and to ensure grassroots voices are centred.
We, as civil society members who are invested in movement building and social justice, are here because we are outraged that a mother in the Eastern Cape killed herself and her children, driven by hunger and despair. There is no time for abstract debates; we need radical, direct action now. We choose to engage, extracting whatever value we can from this moment.
We hear the concerns over Public Finance Management Act (PFMA) irregularities and fear the process may be tainted. We are equally concerned about the fears about elite capture and abuse of the space by political parties. We see no value in creating a superstructure of eminent persons – this process must make radical efforts to connect those who have and those who continue to be undignified; an eminent people’s structure is counter to those values.
We know our democracy’s fraught history with corruption and talk-shops, but this history cannot be allowed to paralyse us from the urgency of our many crises.
Accountability & Legitimacy: The Core Concerns
We are deeply troubled by the plan for ward-level dialogues on the eve of Local Government Elections. We work with movements and communities most harmed by state failure – and we are here to amplify their plight with the urgency it demands.
We have rearranged our own work to seize this opportunity, and we are here to:
- Challenge the state’s evasion of constitutional duties – especially regarding the dire need for socio-economic rights.
- Expose its refusal to account for wrongdoing.
- Resist any attempt to use our presence as cover for inaction.
- Insist on tangible outcomes and accountability mechanisms to implement resolutions that arise out of the National Dialogue process.
- Support mobilising efforts to build real people’s power.
- Insist on tangible outcomes and accountability mechanisms to implement resolutions that arise out of the National Dialogue process.
Our concerns are clear: a defunct Parliament, the widening distance between the political elite and ordinary people, the rise of right-wing extremism, and the advance of regressive policies. If we are absent, we risk forfeiting the chance to shape this process as it unfolds.
Part of our concerns are amplified by the murkiness on who is meant to implement and bring to fruition the demands/solutions that come out of this process: Is it the same government that is yet to deliver for the people in meaningful ways?
Why Engage? Because Justice Cannot Wait
We see an obligation to engage. The government’s dysfunction is predictable and a distraction that suggests we wait a bit longer.
If we wait for this mythical “right moment”, we surrender our agency and choose paralysis. This Dialogue, however imperfect, admits a hard truth: that the state is out of ideas and offers an opening, however fragile.
Our continued participation will depend on a clear commitment to meaningful engagement and public participation that gives communities real decision-making power, the creation of sincere accountability mechanisms to monitor, infl uence, and hold government responsible for implementing its arising commitments, and a clear roadmap to show that this will be a people-driven process, one that is rooted in justice and led by those most affected.
A Collective Call to Action and unity from:
- Abahlali BaseMjondolo
- Afesis
- Equal Education
- LAMOSA
- My Vote Counts
- Ndifuna Ukwazi
- Reclaim The City
- Right2Know
- Rural Women’s Assembly
- SERI SA
- Workers’ World Media Productions Media
