It’s been more than 10 days since President Cyril Ramaphosa announced the creation of a national dialogue and many worthy articles and pronouncements have followed. There seems to be wide agreement among at least the black commentators I follow on social media and in print and on TV that the dialogue is a good thing and that it’s happening not a moment too soon.
But I’ve done my best to find an official response to the official statement from the second largest component of our government, the DA — but but there’s been none. Formally, the DA position is to participate but it’s going to be a minefield for it. Ramaphosa will use the dialogue to aggrandise himself. He first mentioned it last December, again on January 1, again at the ANC annual birthday bash around January 8, again in his state of the nation address, and announced it formally on June 10.
Initial muttered comments from the DA a year ago were along the lines of “we’ve just had an election, what else is there to discuss?” and I suspect that’s still the attitude, but a momentum is building behind the dialogue that is going to be hard to ignore, particularly as the constitution is bound to come up in the multitude of forums and discussions planned around the country.
I recently asked one of the prime movers of the dialogue whether constitutional change might become part of the overall mission. “Where needs be, if it’s the desire or outcome of the national dialogue, the constitution (some of its provisions), may need to be reviewed, where appropriate.”
Ramaphosa’s slick spokesperson, Vincent Magwenya, says everything is up for grabs. “This is South Africa’s undertaking to go back to the drawing board and engage and discuss what kind of country we would like to see over the next many years to come,” he said after Ramaphosa’s announcement.
I doubt the DA has any appetite to go “back to the drawing board”, but it is going to have to take part and be loud. The dialogue kicks off in August and by early next year, after hundreds of meetings and whatever else, it wraps up with, Ramaphosa promises, a new national compact.
Don’t laugh. Ramaphosa has been desperately chasing a compact for years and this for him is all politics. Unable to deliver dynamic economic reforms, his only choice will be to keep talking about them instead. He and the ANC will do their best to turn the dialogue into a form of subsidised campaigning for the coming local government elections.
Unfortunately for him, the dialogue idea originated with foundations named for Nelson Mandela, Thabo Mbeki, Steve Biko and Desmond Tutu, all horrified at the way the ANC has wrecked the economy. And twice now Ramaphosa has overreached himself and greatly irritated them.
On December 16 last year he announced he would appoint a panel of eminent South Africans “to provide guidance and advice” through the dialogue process. Ahead of that announcement I had repeatedly asked Magwenya whether his boss would use a speech on that public holiday to announce the dialogue. He repeatedly said he wouldn’t.
Expect more confusion. Only the state can pay for the dialogue and at a starting estimate of R700m it could easily outspend the R1bn for the Zondo inquiry into state capture
That deceit measured how much this matters to Ramaphosa and it really pissed off the foundations.
“This was not what was agreed to, he’s usurping the whole thing,” said a leading figure in the foundations at the time. “The agreement was that he would charge the national foundations and Nedlac to set up a preparatory committee to take us to the first national convention [the one this August] ... and the eminent persons were supposed to be appointed in consultation with the preparatory committee.”
The foundations warned their support was “conditioned on this initiative remaining free of party-political aggrandisement” and then on June 10 Ramaphosa did it again with his big announcement of a vast group of eminent people, triggering bemusement and amusement in equal measure. Springbok captain Siya Kolisi is one. So is Roelf Meyer.
The Presidency had given the foundations an hour’s notice of the announcement. “It was a piss-poor rollout and a weird mix of characters,” complained an adviser to the foundations.
“Cyril can always be trusted to wrest defeat from the jaws of victory. This was supposed to be an inspired moment for our country. Instead it has turned into a debacle.”
Expect more confusion. Only the state can pay for the dialogue and at a starting estimate of R700m it could easily outspend the R1bn for the Zondo inquiry into state capture. For that kind of money and the poor state of its own finances, the ANC will be all over it, whatever the foundations might want.
Meanwhile, the DA has yet another fight with its bigger GNU partner looming — and having fought hard to stay in the policy tent, it is almost impossible to draw any more red lines.
For opinion and analysis consideration, e-mail Opinions@timeslive.co.za
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