For over two days, the 15th and 16th August 2025, various groupings of South Africans of different social formations gathered at the University of South Africa main campus in Pretoria presumably to kickstart a national dialogue.
According to the LEGACY FOUNDATIONS that have been working for the past 13 months making arrangements and preparations for the first NATIONAL CONVENTION, the NATIONAL DIALOGUE is intended to give a platform to the citizens of South Africa to deliberate and discuss about the “South Africa they want and the South Africa they don’t want.”
The objective reality is that our country is confronted with an existential crisis. The National Dialogue is a platform for the citizens of South Africa to engage among themselves in honest and vigorous discussions about the challenges and crisis confronting our country.
THERE EXISTS A TRUST DEFICIT BETWEEN GOVERNMENT AND THE CITIZENS
All evidence and research about the current state of the country clearly indicates that there is a TRUST DEFICIT between the government and politicians on the one hand and the citizens on the other. This has been demonstrated by the apathy and lack of enthusiasm during the 2024 National Elections.
The voter turnout has declined from 89.3% in 1999 to an all-time low of 58.6% in the 2024 general elections. The registered voter population is recorded as 27.7 million people, but only 16.2 million people cast their ballots during the National Elections of the 29th of May 2024.
According to the HSRC survey, in 2023, 57% of South Africans were dissatisfied with democracy. When asked what their main reason would be for not voting if the national elections were held tomorrow, 81% of people had responded, “disillusionment”.
The fact that 11 million registered voters did not vote is matter of grave concern.
Proceeding from the premise that 81% of the sample population responded that they are disillusioned with the current state of affairs in the country, it is inevitable that the NATIONAL DIALOGUE must of necessity ask the question WHY?
That question cannot be an end in itself, but it must serve as a launchpad for the nation to deliberate and define the challenges facing our country but also use its collective wisdom to come up and provide sustainable solutions to the identified challenges to pull the country out of this quagmire.
This statistical information and the fact that people are disillusioned and frustrated with the current state of affairs is living testimony that the government lacks the ethical and moral legitimacy to lead the NATIONAL DIALOGUE. For the sake of its credibility and integrity, the NATIONAL DIALOGUE must be led, convened and managed by the citizens.
It must, by its very nature, structure and content define and identify the challenges and crisis confronting our country.
VARIOUS DEFINITIONS OF NATIONAL DIALOGUES
There are various researched definitions of “NATIONAL DIALOGUES” and almost all have one similar silver lining.
According to Berghof Foundation in association with Swiss Peace, as sponsored by the Foreign Office of the Federal Republic of Germany.
National Dialogues are nationally owned political processes aimed at generating consensus among a broad range of national stakeholders in times of deep political crisis, in post war situations or far-reaching political transitions.
Distinct Obuzor Imaka and Tonye Marclint Ebiede (2024) define National Dialogue in the following terms:
National dialogues have become an increasingly important conflict management tool in countries facing political instability, conflict, or transitions of power. In many African contexts, it is often seen as a last resort by national stakeholders, an attempt to prevent complete collapse or to guide a nation through a significant political shift.
Unlike traditional negotiations that usually involve only political elites or those in power, national dialogues are designed to be more inclusive. They bring together a wide range of voices from across society, including opposition groups, civil society, religious leaders, and community representatives.
In recent years, this approach has gained prominence in Africa as a response to ongoing crises.
While the outcomes of national dialogues have been mixed, they are generally seen as opportunities to reset national priorities, address long-standing grievances, and open pathways toward reform and reconciliation.”
NATIONAL DIALOGUES AND INCLUSIVITY – BROAD PARTICIPATION
Inclusive Peace and Transition, Initiative, Graduate Institute of Geneva, (2017) explains National Dialogues as:
National Dialogues provide an inclusive, broad, and participatory official negotiation format, which can resolve political crises and lead countries into political transitions. They are convened to address issues of national concern, typically longstanding causes of conflict that have been brought to the fore by political protest or armed insurrection.
National Dialogues therefore have mandates that include political reforms, constitution-making, and peacebuilding. There have been numerous National Dialogues over the last 25 years, in varying political contexts and environments, ranging from Benin to Yemen. However, the international mediation and peace building communities are still struggling to fully comprehend the functioning of National Dialogues, but most of all the conditions under which National Dialogues can contribute to successful political transitions
NATIONAL DIALOGUE TO SOLVE EXISTENTIAL THREATS
In some instances, National Dialogues are called and constituted to address particular existential threats on the economy that may lead to joblessness and a decline into the abyss of poverty like the one held in China.
“In China, the National Dialogue has been co-hosted by UNDP, the China Song Ching Ling Science & Culture Centre for Young People (SCLSCC), and Citi China since 2018. Over the past six years, the National Dialogue China has supported more than 300 Chinese youth-led start-ups, offering professional mentorship from experts across impact funds, incubators, and academia, while enhancing their access to funding opportunities from industry partners.” (2024 National Dialogue in China)
The choice of the above quotations and instances have been clearly selected to provide a balanced view based on practical, academic, non-governmental institutional, and also in some instances government sponsored research papers, with some focus on both African, Middle East, Asian and European experience. It is important to note that the government plays the role of providing resources to the process rather than leading or managing it.
The selected experiences agree in totality that National Dialogues happen in particular settings essentially, but not exclusively to address:
1) deep political, social economic crisis
2) Peace and nation building
3) bring different strands, and parties of the society together to form a principled and far-reaching common vision and objectives to rebuild/reset the society.
It is of no doubt that National Dialogues are held as the last resort before the ultimate collapse, or as the only alternative left, towards rebuilding what has been squandered by war, corrupt, inefficient inept and incompetent leaders.
This leads to national hopelessness, deep societal crisis brought about by desperate lack of leadership, or even endogenous or exogenous national occurrences that threatens to adversely disrupt progress or lay the country to waste.
In his opening remarks President Ramaphosa lays out an array of issues, which are strictly in the purview of the state to resolve with its administrative might, constitutional authority, financial, policy, police, military and justice supervision, guidance and ultimate control.
The irony of the President’s remarks and issues raised seem to suggest that the current state authority has neither the vision nor the strategy to address these issues. That is all the more reason why the citizens must now come together in the NATIONAL DIALOGUE to provide the vision for the country going forward.
What the President falls short of clearly pronouncing is whether the government, executive and state have failed to perform or not. This pronouncement would be of utmost importance to make.
Clearly the leadership in the ANC is in denial about what has led to this current state of paralysis. There is a lack of political will to resolve these issues.
The REPORT OF THE 54TH NATIONAL CONFERENCE of the ANC, which was held at NASREC Johannesburg, Gauteng from 16th – 20th December 2017 quotes the Secretary General’s diagnostic report which says in part:
A loss of confidence in the ANC because of social distance, corruption, nepotism, arrogance, elitism, factionalism, manipulating organisational processes, abusing state power, putting self interest above the people. Even the strongest ANC supporters agree the “sins of incumbency” are deeply entrenched. Many organisations and thought leaders have become critics of the ANC and its leadership and we are losing much of our influence and appeal among students, young intellectuals and the black middle class.
The 55TH NATIONAL CONFERENCE RESOLUTIONS document, continues its analysis of the challenges facing the ANC and says…
ANC infighting, disunity, and use of media to engage in battles of ANC has undermined public trust, portraying an image of organizational paralysis.
There is an acceptance that “Challenges and divisions within the ANC and the broader mass democratic movement” have opened up the space for counter revolutionary forces to infiltrate the organisation to destroy the organisation from within and effectively undermine the ideological position of the ANC and its pursuit of the objectives and ideals of the NATIONAL DEMOCRATIC REVOLUTION.
However, the fact that people have expressed their disillusionment and the trust deficit that has already been mentioned above, is a clear indicator that the government has failed to live up to the expectations of the people.
THE COLLECTIVE WISDOM OF THE CITIZENS WHICH WILL PULL THE COUNTRY OUT OF THE MORASS
The argument here is that those who failed or are perceived to have failed the society cannot be the ones who are entrusted with the heavy responsibility to pull the society from the abyss. Rather, those who failed or are perceived to have failed to lead, must show the last muscle of strength and humility by submitting to their failures and committing to be led along with the society to make a common effort to right the wrongs, omissions and commissions of the past, that tossed the society into where it is at the current moment.
A credible leadership for instance would have the responsibility to ensure that planning is meticulous and with a clear objective of reaching a common vision. More than ever before, the country needs leadership which is ETHICAL – HONEST – TRUSTWORTHY AND LEADS WITH INTEGRITY.
The fact of a credible leadership is one that cannot be overemphasized as it speaks directly to issues of trust, issues of credibility and a genuine and believable commitment to confronting the issues and challenges facing our society.
Therefore, of critical importance, is that the NATIONAL DIALOGUE with a huge potential for success, must be armed with the political willingness, the necessary motivation and energy to stubbornly carry through its objectives for a new common society vision. But this stubbornness or strict focus must be based on a commonly agreed upon identified challenge or a set of challenges besetting the society. This must be such that the challenges are commonly understood to be impeding our strategic objective without which we cannot even think of alleviating our societal problems.
It is the responsibility of the citizens who are the driver of the process of the NATIONAL DIALOGUE to identify and define the challenges that society is confronting.
This will provide not only the basis of societal engagement, but the citizens must take ownership, define the road map and propose solutions to the challenges and crisis confronting our society.
Having listened to a number of the old and young voices during and after the two-day UNISA GATHERING (for it is a misnomer to refer to that event as a National Convention) one observed that there was a clear lack of an organised voice, management and planning that went into this event. It does not look like there was a programme, there were several individuals who invaded the stage demanding to be given the opportunity to speak. In some instances, the microphone was simply snatched from the hands of the programme director.
The important aspect of this discussion is the fact that at least the idea of the NATIONAL DIALOGUE is now in the public domain.
The LEGACY FOUNDATIONS have demonstrated over a year their willingness to carry out this gigantic and important task, it must be considered that for this task to be achieved, it must be acted upon on the basis of proper research, organisation planning and there must be time frames.
In conclusion, the NATIONAL DIALOGUE must be rescued from statism and put into the hands of the people! No state can monitor and evaluate itself, hence there are regular elections, and the outcome of the recent elections is an indication that the ANC and the other parties do not enjoy the outright respect and confidence of the masses.
For this reason, the UNISA GATHERING has cast a long and dark shadow over the NATIONAL DIALOGUE and the people of South Africa individually and in their various organisational formations and sectors must do everything in their power to rescue the NATIONAL DIALOGUE.
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