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CITIZEN PANEL SETS THE TONE FOR SOUTH AFRICA’S FIRST NATIONAL DIALOGUE CONVENTION

August 15, 2025

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By Precious Mupenzi.

The National Dialogue Convention aims to engage 10 million South Africans in shaping the country’s future through thousands of conversations at community and national levels.
The dialogue will culminate in recommendations that will be brought back to a national platform.
“We want this process to go to the root of the unemployment crisis,” said Sinesipho Soxujwa of the Unemployed People’s Movement.

The first-ever National Dialogue Convention of South Africa officially opened today at the University of South Africa’s main campus in Pretoria, drawing close to 1 200 delegates from across the country.

The citizen-led process aims to engage 10 million South Africans in shaping the country’s future through thousands of conversations at community and national levels.

The dialogue – described by organisers as the first opportunity since 1994 for South Africans to collectively acknowledge the country’s challenges and find lasting solutions – will unfold over several months, culminating in recommendations brought back to the national platform.

‘A process owned by the people’

Opening the discussions, Boichoko Ditlake, representing the organisers, underscored that the convention was designed “to kickstart a process for all of us as South Africans to find a common and shared tomorrow”. He stressed that it was about setting the rules of engagement for a citizen-led process.

“We are here to set the framework and the pathway for engagement – from the community level right up to the national stage – and to ensure that at the end of this process, the recommendations are truly owned by the people,” he said.

Urgent calls from the ground

The “word on the street” from citizens was direct and uncompromising. Sinesipho Soxujwa of the Unemployed People’s Movement said the grassroots and working class “are not here to be pitied” – they demand real power.

“We want this process to go to the root of the unemployment crisis. It must reject failed neo-liberal policies and treat basic needs – water, electricity, transport, and housing – as rights, not commodities,” she said.

“We must end austerity because it starves our people of essential services, and we must guarantee free, quality education from primary school to university. That is an investment in our future.”

Citizens called for the urgent promotion of local industries to create jobs in the communities where people live, binding obligations on the private sector to invest in communities rather than extracting resources without giving back, and the introduction of a living wage to lift people out of poverty.

Representation and inclusion

Professor Musawenkosi Saurombe, from the University of Johannesburg, stressed the importance of ensuring marginalised voices are part of the process.

“We are not here for ourselves, but for those who do not have the opportunity to be in this room,” she said, drawing historical parallels with past leaders who fought for representation.

She acknowledged the scepticism surrounding the dialogue, noting that historic milestones like the Freedom Charter and the Constitution also faced initial resistance.

“As leaders, we must ask ourselves: are people following us or are we just taking a walk?” she said, quoting an old proverb to highlight the importance of shared goals between leaders and citizens.

Accessibility through a community toolkit

Responding to questions about how the dialogue will reach citizens who are not active in ward-level structures, the organising committee outlined measures to ensure accessibility.

The process will include multilingual structured dialogues, community-based facilitators, and mechanisms for self-activated dialogues.

“For example, a particular community in Matatiele can say, ‘We want to discuss our issues’. The key is to create a way for the outcomes of those dialogues to feed into the national conclusions,” explained a member of the organising committee.

He confirmed the development of an online toolkit, accessible via the National Dialogue website, which will equip citizens to host their own discussions.

The toolkit will outline conversation points, process guidelines, and reporting methods so that every citizen-led dialogue contributes to the broader national process.

“We are certain that we will empower communities to take charge and own the process,” he said.

“They must feel they are making a difference and have contributed to the new vision of South Africa.”

President Ramaphosa’s call for citizen responsibility

Addressing delegates, President Cyril Ramaphosa described those in attendance as the “champions and enablers of these public dialogues”.

“We seek to ensure that we give the space to South Africans to define the outcome of the national dialogue process so that those thousands of conversations can be drawn into a clear vision for the country and an agreed programme of action into the future,” he said.

The president added that the process is about citizens taking responsibility for their own future – ensuring that change is not imposed from above, but emerges from the will and ideas of the people themselves.

A foundation for a new chapter

As the panel closed, applause filled the hall – a sign that South Africans are ready to engage, question, and contribute. From the grassroots call for economic justice to the academic push for inclusivity, the message was clear: this National Dialogue must not be symbolic. It must be the foundation for tangible change, with solutions shaped by the people, for the people.