While the National Dialogue holds great potential for South Africa, the ANC is attempting to commandeer it, says Rise Mzansi.
News24 quotes the party’s head of internal democracy, Boitumelo Mpakanyane, as saying that the National Dialogue gave South Africa an opportunity to “remake itself through open, collective reflection and hard choices about what kind of future we want to build.” This was important for the country’s young people and those outside the economic mainstream.
Mpakanyane said that what was unfolding was a declining political hegemon – the ANC – using the National Dialogue to recentre itself in the country’s political narrative.
He said that many of the eminent persons appointed to lead the process were closely identified with the ANC’s history and intellectual tradition.
The intention is to “insert the party’s worldview and networks into the foundations of a new consensus, ensuring that even if power shifts, the terms of the future remain shaped by its hand.”
He warned that the ANC was not aiming to participate, but to dominate. An inclusive National Dialogue would open space for a plurality of voices and perspectives.
Mpakanyane concluded: “Beware the eminent person. Sometimes they are there to carry the country forward. But sometimes, they are there to keep it from moving at all.”
[Image: https://www.risemzansi.org/gallery/rise-mzansi-peoples-manifesto-launch]