LISTEN | National dialogue ‘hijacked’: Thabo Mbeki says SA leaderless on poverty, inequality

‘South Africa has no clear direction on inequality and poverty. The social compact has collapsed and the national dialogue was hijacked. We are leaderless’ — Thabo Mbeki

July 21, 2026 at 4:12 pm2 min read

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Former president Thabo Mbeki says South Africa has “no clear direction” to tackle inequality, poverty and unemployment, warning the collapse of the social compact has left the country without a coherent plan of action.

Addressing the CSI Indaba 2026 in Johannesburg, Mbeki said the original social compact process had effectively collapsed, shrinking from a broad, multistakeholder effort into a narrower partnership between government and business.

“The social compact has collapsed, the social partnership has collapsed,” he said. “[The country] has no clear direction as to what we are going to do to solve the problems of inequality, poverty and so on. It doesn’t exist.”

Mbeki was critical of the government’s economic recovery efforts, describing them as a “wish list” rather than a concrete programme, and drawing parallels with the National Development Plan, which he regards as outlining a vision without a clear plan of action.

He dismissed claims of economic “green shoots”, pointing instead to declining fixed gross capital formation — a key measure of new investment — as evidence that recovery is not materialising.

Mbeki revisited his 2024 call for an inclusive, citizen-led national dialogue after South Africa’s 30 years of democracy. He said foundations had proposed a model built around 32 constituencies — including women, youth, business and traditional leaders — to ensure broad participation.

However, he said a government-led national convention announced for August 2025 proceeded without proper consultation or the establishment of these constituencies, leading the foundations to withdraw.

“It was an attempted hijack of the national dialogue to kill it.”

He added that while efforts to revive a genuine, people-led process are continuing, progress has stalled.

Mbeki urged business to re-engage on the basis of social responsibility, warning that corporate social investment alone is insufficient to drive systemic change.

Without renewed co-operation among social partners and a credible national dialogue, “this country will sink”.

TimesLIVE