It would seem to me that the D.A is also saying that “the people have forfeited the confidence of the D.A … Perhaps the D. A’s equivalent of the ‘Secretary of the Writers Union’ should distribute leaflets along Nelson Mandela Boulevard in Cape Town, telling the people that they should redouble their efforts to win back the confidence off the D.A or face dissolution.
While I was on a working visit to Sri Lanka, I received news that you had announced that the Democratic Alliance would no longer participate in the forthcoming National Dialogue.
As I understand it, this decision derived from the sacking from Government of Mr. Andrew Whitfield, a DA member who was serving as Deputy Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition.
You objected to this decision by the Head of the GNU, President Cyril Ramaphosa, saying the expulsion of Mr. Whitfield from Government was “excessive” considering that ‘President Ramaphosa had not acted against those implicated in wrong – doing by the Zondo Commission of Inquiry.’
D. A GIVES PRESIDENT RAMAPHOSA A 48 HRS ULTIMATUM
Later you said the “D.A calls on the President (Ramaphosa) to fire (Ministers) Simelane, Nkabane and Mahlobo, and other ANC Ministers implicated in corruption within 48 hours.”
When President Ramaphosa did not act as requested, you said, among others:
Frankly, the President cannot even dialogue meaningfully with his own Coalition Partners, so there is little point in pretending there is any substance to an ANC-run National Dialogue.
“Effective immediately, the D.A will therefore have no further part in this process. We will also actively mobilise against it…starting with a call on civil society to join us in demanding that the National Dialogue not proceed until President Ramaphosa fires ANC corruption accused and other delinquents from the Executive…
“This Dialogue should not proceed until such time as those who are guilty of corruption and maladministration and those who have not lived up to the standards of the Ministerial Handbook are held accountable in the same was that Andrew Whitfield has been done.”
The D.A Federal Chairperson Ms. Helen Zille, added to all this during an interview on Newzroom Africa, saying:
I believe that (the National Dialogue) is just a cover for the ANC’s 2026 Election campaign. So, I have been very opposed to it from the start. It was a very important thing for the D.A to say we are not participating in it, and if the D.A as the second largest Party in the country, doesn’t participate in it, the whole thing becomes a sham. The whole thing becomes a hollow exercise.
I am certain that you will understand when I say, as I do, that I assume that you agree with what your Federal Chairperson has said about the National Dialogue.
Honourable Mr. Steenhuisen,
From the foregoing
- It is clear that you and the D.A have serious problems with President Ramaphosa and the ANC concerning the functioning of the GNU, culminating in what you believe was an unjust and unfair removal from Government of Deputy Minister Andrew Whitfield;
- It is also obvious that, despite this, you and the D.A decided that you will not withdraw from the GNU; and,
- It is established that instead, with the final straw being the sacking of Deputy Minister Whitfield, you and the D.A have decided not to participate in the National Dialogue which begins on 15 August 2025.
IN LIGHT OF THE PROBLEMS WITH PRESIDENT RAMAPHOSA REGARDING THE FUNCTIONING OF THE GNU – LOGICAL TO WITHDRAW FROM GNU
Honourable Mr. Steenhuisen
- Whether I would agree with such a decision or not, I would have found it logical if you and the D.A had decided to withdraw from the GNU; and, to the contrary
- I consider the decision of the D.A not to participate in the National Dialogue as misplaced and very strange indeed, as well as even being against its own very direct interests.
Obviously, I owe you an explanation with regard to these observations.
I must therefore request your time and patience as I try to explain the National Dialogue.
Last year, as we approached the 30th anniversary of our country’s transition to democracy, many people at home and abroad, asked me to comment on this transition.
Responding to these many requests, I spoke on this matter in a public Address I delivered at Freedom Park in Tshwane on 30 April 2024.
During this address, I said, among other things:
…I suggest that to respond to the enormous challenges created by the counter-revolution, our people should convene in a new and truly inclusive National Dialogue to answer the question – what is to be done?
…In this regard I must report that currently I am engaged in serious discussions with a number of our national Foundations because I am certain the country as a whole will benefit greatly from their collective voice on the matter of the National Dialogue I have mentioned.
In this context, I must inform you that before I delivered this Freedom Park Address, and out of courtesy, I decided to alert the Head of State, President Ramaphosa, both that I would be speaking at Freedom Park and that I would be making a call for the convening of a National Dialogue.
Whereas I delivered my Address during the afternoon of 30 April 2024, President Ramaphosa addressed a Dinner Gala of the Black Business Council (BBC) during the evening of the same day.
PRESIDENT RAMAPHOSA SUPPORTS THE CONVENING OF A NATIONAL DIALOGUE
During this BBC Address, President Ramaphosa made some ex-tempore remarks which do not appear in the published text of his remarks. He said, inter alia:
…This approach of working together was repeated earlier today by President Thabo Mbeki in a seminal speech which he delivered at Freedom Park where he was reflecting on 30 years of our democracy. He made a key proposal on how we should move our country forward…
He then said that…to respond to the enormous challenges created by those who intervened negatively, our people should convene a new and truly inclusive National Dialogue to answer the question what is to be done?
I would like to say that I support what President Thabo Mbeki has put forward as a proposal and look forward to working with him and others to engage in a serious discussion about the National Dialogue.
Honourable Mr. Steenhuisen
You will recall that when I spoke at Freedom Park, I mentioned that I was engaging and would engage some National Foundations on the matter of the National Dialogue.
I would like to explain why I said this.
In April 2016, a number of Foundations in our country met and established what they called National Foundations Dialogue Initiative (NFDI). In its founding Statement, the NFDI said:
The NFDI, drawing on the negotiation experience from which our constitutional dispensation was born, came out of extensive consultations among the following Foundations: Robert Mangaliso Sobukwe, FW de Klerk, Thabo Mbeki, Helen Suzman, Desmond and Leah Tutu Legacy, Umlambo, Chief Albert Luthuli, Kgalema Motlanthe and Jakes Gerwel. The NFDI was officially launched in April 2016 at Constitution Hill.
It said some of its Objectives were to:
- “make a call to the nation to enter into a conversation to find lasting solutions to our national problems, and to use such solutions to inform our structures of governance, and the texture of our political, economic and social interactions and operations; and,
- “invite organisations of civil society to add their voice in support of the initiative to help mobilise all citizens to participate in the process to determine their destiny.”
It was exactly because I knew of the reality of NFDI that I thought that it would be appropriate to engage our National Foundations on the important matter of the National Dialogue.
And indeed, I then convened a virtual meeting of the National Foundations and requested that they take over the matter of the National Dialogue, consistent with the objectives set by the NFDI when it was established in 2016.
In this regard, I must explain that the collective of the Foundations had grown since 2016, with the addition of such Foundations as the Steve Biko, Ahmed Kathrada, Kagiso Trust, Dumisani Makhaye, Baleka Mbete and the Andrew Mlangeni.
Unfortunately, the Helen Suzman Foundation elected to withdraw from this collective of Foundations. It is best placed to explain this decision.
Happily, the National Foundations agreed to take the task to mobilise for and organise the National Dialogue.
AN URGENT, INCLUSIVE, CITIZEN-LED NATIONAL INTERVENTION IS REQUIRED TO RESTORE LEGITIMACY, CREDIBILITY OF THE SOUTH AFRICAN DEMCRATIC PROJECT
They announced this in a Press Conference they convened on 27 Jue 2024.
In their Statement they said, among others:
We, the Foundations that are signatories hereto…call upon the people of South Africa to join in a National Dialogue to reorientate the direction of our nation…
“We, the Foundations as leading social institutions, believe that an urgent, inclusive, citizen led, national intervention is required to restore the legitimacy, credibility and enhancement of the South African project…
It is time for every South African to take part in paving a new way forward. We call on all citizens to engage in defining a clear vision and to establish a unifying programme that inspires new national hope. Out of this reflection must arise a renewed commitment to constitutional democracy and the urgency to improve the material conditions of those left behind.
END PART 1
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