The first national convention will put together a framework for the community-led dialogues.
President Cyril Ramaphosa has hit back at political parties, civil society organisations and high-profile foundations that chose to boycott the first National Dialogue convention, suggesting they could find themselves out in the cold on the path to insignificance.
Ramaphosa was speaking at the University of South Africa (Unisa) on Friday where he officially opened the first convention that will lead to the rollout of the National Dialogue to communities.
“There are those that are standing outside who are saying that we are not going to participate and we grant them that freedom,” Ramaphosa said.
“But one day they will be like the PAC they will realise that they should have been part of the dialogue.”
Why participate in the dialogue?
Ramaphosa said the dialogue is a call for to participate in the country’s progress and events that are meant to shape the future.
“This we cannot do when we are sitting on the sidelines; this we cannot do when we do not want to be part of this conversation and this we cannot do when we sit on the sidelines and criticise. We need to be inside rather than outside the tent,” he said.
Ramaphosa said the convention is meant to launch numerous community dialogues that will diagnose South Africa’s problems and come up with solutions.
“It should involve talking together. We believe that if we share our fears and concerns, we can conquer them. If we understand the challenges we face, we can overcome them. If we know what hurts us, we can heal. If we know what divides us, we can unite,” he said.
Will politicians listen to citizens?
Ramaphosa said the process will also ensure that the country’s leaders understand the challenges South Africans face.
“It is also about getting leaders to realise what is worrying South Africans, how leaders themselves can be engaged in understanding the lives of South Africans and to be accountable. And to look behind and see if there are still people following them.
“So, in this process we want people to meet in homes and community halls, we want them to meet in churches, in synagogues and mosques and temples. Our people must meet in schools and lecture halls, in boardrooms and on the shop floor,” he said.
The need to discuss pressing issues
He described South Africa as a broken country which has many issues.
“We will need to have difficult conversations about many issues, including why South African women have to live in fear of the men of our country.
“We also need to ask ourselves why do so many people live in abject poverty and so few live lives of opulence.
“Why after democracy are the prospects of a white child so much better than those of a black child,” he said.
Ramaphosa-Mbeki clash over dialogue readiness
Despite the absence of former president Thabo Mbeki at the event, ANC spokesperson Mahlengi Bhengu-Motsiri told the media that relations between Mbeki and Ramaphosa were cordial.
Mbeki’s foundation is one of the leading voices that suggested that the country should have a national dialogue after the ANC lost the general elections for the first time since 1994.
Mbeki’s foundation is one of the foundations that pulled out of the planning of the first convention.
Despite this ANC chairperson Gwede Mantashe slammed Mbeki for pulling out of the dialogue organising committee.
“One of the things that isimportant when you are in leadership is to let go when there is a new leader. If you do not do that there is always going to be confusion. The convention is not about us, it is about South Africans,” he said.
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