Latest news with #R700m
Eyewitness News
2 days ago
- Politics
- Eyewitness News
Withdrawal from National Dialogue likely to see Steenhuisen in hot water
JOHANNESBURG – The Democratic Alliance (DA)'s decision to withdraw from the National Dialogue could see its leader, John Steenhuisen, landing himself in hot water President Cyril Ramaphosa's office said that while the party can boycott the event, ministers who don't participate in the dialogue would be acting insubordinately. Several ministers have been appointed to head up an inter-ministerial committee on the National Dialogue, and Steenhuisen is one of them. While the DA, in reaction to one of its deputy ministers being axed, has changed its tune on the National Dialogue. The Presidency said it will not be that easy for those serving in government to just opt out. ALSO READ: VUKILE DLWATI | A R700m National Dialogue limits the butterfly that SA is dying to become Ramaphosa's Spokesperson, Vincent Magwenya, said the DA walking out of a National Dialogue is immaterial. This poses a challenge for the DA's Steenhuisen, who led the charge to abandon the dialogue, as he is one of the ministers serving in the Inter-Ministerial Committee (IMC). Magwenya said those appointed to the IMC are expected to fully participate in the event The National Dialogue forms part of the 7th administration's programme, with the National Treasury already looking for money to fund the project.
TimesLIVE
25-06-2025
- Politics
- TimesLIVE
We will scale down the cost of the national dialogue: Ramaphosa
President Cyril Ramaphosa has assured parliament that the government will drive down the cost of the national dialogue over the public backlash over the estimated R700m price tag. Speaking at the National Council of Provinces during a question-and-answer session on Wednesday, Ramaphosa said people had been fixated over the cost of the dialogue. Earlier this month, Ramaphosa announced the national dialogue would be convened in August with eminent people from different groups expected to lead discussions. The dialogue was agreed upon after the elections which saw the ANC losing its majority and forming a government of national unity with various parties including the DA. After the announcement of the date for the national dialogue, it emerged that the engagement would cost the country R700m. This led to various parties including the EFF taking issue with the government's decision to convene the dialogue. EFF leader Julius Malema penned a letter rejecting the cost as a 'grotesque and wasteful plan by the so-called national dialogue preparatory task team'. He said national dialogue has no bearing on the lives of ordinary South Africans.
The Citizen
24-06-2025
- Politics
- The Citizen
Is the National Dialogue a distraction or democratic necessity?
National dialogues, commissions and lekgotlas have long dotted our democratic history – but do they ever deliver more than symbolism? There's been a lot written about President Cyril Ramaphosa's upcoming National Dialogue. Some of it overwrought, some quite profound, but the biggest question has been why? There is an argument that it's nothing more than a distraction. There's the typical row over who has been invited and who isn't. There's also the historical context: we've had national lekgotlas before; Codesa, which helped us peacefully and properly extricate South Africa from centuries of colonialism and decades of apartheid. There have been commissions: from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission into human rights abuses during apartheid to the Zondo commission into state capture, not forgetting the Farlam commission into Marikana or the Moseneke commission into Life Esidimeni. All of these, it could be argued, were necessary to 'help shape the next chapter of our democracy'. The problem is none of them have met with much approval after their conclusion, despite the cost and effort. Politician Vladimir Lenin famously said religion was the opiate of the masses, distracting them from their suffering. We don't know what he thought of sport, but modern sport has replaced the circus – the gladiator version not Boswell and Wilkie – as a distraction. ALSO READ: Is the national dialogue a futile exercise? Successive Roman emperors would host 'games' featuring lions and Christians, slaves and professional gladiators, beating the hell out of the other in an orgy of gore and mass hysteria to take the audience's minds off what was happening outside the stadium. Sport does that here, whether it's Temba Bavuma's men becoming the best Test cricket team in the world or the Springboks, who open their international season in Cape Town this Saturday. Everyone gets in on it, from retailers selling affordable and knockoff fan gear, to the fans themselves parsing the team announcements in the next couple of days to see if Rassie Erasmus has got it right against the Barbarians (literally). It's the best distraction there is, culminating on Saturday evening and then it starts all over again the next week. There are some marvellous South Africans named as National Dialogue ambassadors; from Robbie Brozin to Manne Dipico, Imtiaz Sooliman, Nomboniso Gasa, Sibusiso Vilane and, of course, captain Siya Kolisi, but can the nine-month talk shop do anything that elections can't? If Ramaphosa really wanted answers, he could just schedule those and get a road map fairly quickly on the next chapter of our democracy. But is that what he actually wants? NOW READ: Clarity sought on alleged R700m cost of National Dialogue
TimesLIVE
24-06-2025
- Politics
- TimesLIVE
‘National dialogue' is another scam
The EFF categorically rejects the grotesque and wasteful plan by the so-called National Dialogue Preparatory Task Team to spend R700m on what they are calling a 'national dialogue' because we know that it has no bearing on the lives of ordinary South Africans. In a country ravaged by poverty, joblessness and a collapsing public infrastructure , it is not only irresponsible but deeply immoral to even contemplate such an exorbitant budget for what is essentially a talk shop for elites. The timing of this announcement is also indicative of an uncaring government that is out of touch with the majority of its citizens...
IOL News
23-06-2025
- Politics
- IOL News
Is R700 million for a national dialogue worth it?
Before the government spends R700 million on a(nother) national dialogue, it is reasonable to ask what the dialogue promises to deliver, is this worth more than R700 million and what are the chances the stated objectives will be achieved, ask the author. Before the government spends R700 million on a(nother) national dialogue, it is reasonable to ask what the dialogue promises to deliver, is this worth more than R700 million and what are the chances the stated objectives will be achieved. Dr Oyama Mabandla, a member of the national dialogue preparatory task team, asks us to give the national dialogue a chance, reminding us that '[t]he national dialogue is an attempt to reinvigorate and fix a dangerously adrift democracy. It will involve the entire populace, instead of the self-selecting and incestuous elites, who have been producing one after another failed plan, while the rest of us have been spectators.' But of course it won't involve the entire populace and the outcome will be a big report that no one reads. How can it be anything other than this? Even if you could speak to everyone. What then? Which ideas do you implement and which do you ignore? No member of the task team can do anything other than talk and although conversations matter, you need executive power to change things and you get executive power through lots of votes. The reason we have elections is that you can't involve the whole populace of 63 million people in any dialogue, no matter how important. So we compromise and although they are very far from perfect, elections are the only way we have to get a sense of what citizens want. South Africans didn't decide to give the ANC 40% of the vote in the last election to teach anyone a lesson, as experts love to tell us. A gogo voted for the DA because she believed they would give her grandchildren the best future and a young, first-time voter put their X next to Juju's face because they believe the EFF will give them the best opportunities, but most didn't even do that. Voting is the only opportunity you have to not get the government all the other idiots deserve. It is only in those few minutes in a cubicle where you can actually get something changed. The national dialogue is not even that. You can say as much as you want in conversations and you will be ignored. This is not personal. It is the very heart of how democracy works. No one vote counts for anything unless millions of others agree with you and then that vote really counts. I have no idea why President Cyril Ramaphosa feels like a(nother) national dialogue will yield anything positive (aside from the events' organisers who will no doubt be skimming their 25%) or why borrowing R700m to fund this will yield more in value than the R700m, plus interest, that will be spent. (We currently borrow around R1 billion per day, so the national dialogue is an extra 17 hours or so of borrowing, which somehow doesn't feel that bad. But it is). It's all about social compacting, we are told. But what is this magical phrase loved by many and understood by few? Does Ramaphosa love social compacting more than Trump loves tariffs? Will the national dialogue make more people less poor or will everyone just be R700mn poorer? Social compacting would pop up in masterplans in the Department of Trade Industry and Competition for example, and mostly seemed to mean that a small number of dominant companies could meet with the government, without minutes or recordings, to determine how the rest of the industry should work. It failed even with the full power of government and the largest companies in the country behind it. South Africans, when you ignore the loudest and emptiest vessels, talk with each other just fine (even if that is mostly to complain about the government). The problem is that South Africans are getting poorer and most citizens don't believe the government, irrespective of which party is in charge, can fix that. That is why so many people don't bother voting. The most important first step to economic transformation is to make it easier for more people not to be poor. The three great social ills in South Africa of poverty, unemployment and inequality, leaves out the fourth great ill which is lack of economic freedom. The EFF hijacked this term for their version of communism, but economic freedom allows people to solve their own problems. Not another pile of the Master's Plans, pushed down onto South Africans, but allowing them more freedom to do what they believe is important for them. But the government doesn't trust its own citizens, so you can be "given" a free house shitty house after waiting decades but you can't sell it, because the government doesn't believe you can be trusted with your own money. You wait for decades because with free stuff, the demand always outstrips the supply and no one has an incentive to increase the supply. We know poor people will pay for houses if they can own them, because poor people currently pay for houses they cannot own. Rich people have economic freedom and poor people are not allowed to make their own economic decisions and so remain poor. We have the only national dialogue that matters, which are the conversations which happen in parliament. Have your say and vote and you are part of the dialogue. Spending R700m so you can be told by a(nother) group of people how they can lift you from poverty, as long as you do as you are told, is a terrible idea.
