By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The Freedom Front Plus (FF+) announced on Tuesday that it would not attend the ‘ANC’s planned National Convention scheduled to start on Friday.
The initiative is meant to tackle a wide range of South Africa’s pressing issues including unemployment, poor governance and gender-based violence.
In June, Government of National Unity (GNU) partner, the DA, announced it would not participate in the National Dialogue following the axeing of party member Andrew Whitfield as deputy minister of trade and industry.
Last month, former president Thabo Mbeki – whose organisation was among those that have withdrawn – warned that the National Dialogue process risked being meaningless, without capable leadership.
The National Convention kicks off on August 15 and 16 at the ZK Matthews Hall, at Unisa, in Pretoria, and marks the beginning of the National Dialogue process, which will roll out over the next few months across the country in the form of public dialogues in communities and sectors.
The party’s leader, Corné Mulder, said the ANC has lost the credibility to be the dialogue’s guardian or to participate in it due to its refusal to change its transformation policies.
The National Convention organising committee chairperson Boichoko Ditlhake said that the process needed to be handed over to civil society, citizens and citizen organisations and said no one group should control the venture, as had been the concern from many parts of society. He stressed that the National Dialogue was decentralised by design.
Ditlhake assured that support and contributions from various stakeholders had helped to reduce the cost of the Convention, including from host Unisa, which he said had provided associated goods, facilities and services free of charge.
“The reduced costs associated with the hosting of the National Dialogue and the funding plan are done with the intention to reduce the burden on the national fiscus. The total budget for the National Dialogue will be developed as a structure . . . the community dialogues are finalised by the National Convention and will depend on in-kind contributions, donations and other sources that can be mobilised, and will be mobilised from various stakeholders across all sectors of our society,” he said.
He assured that the outcomes from the dialogue would be used for real change.
Read the FF Plus Statement here:https://www.vfplus.org.za/af/mediaverklarings/anc-maak-dit-vir-vf-plus-onmoontlik-om-aan-nasionale-dialoog-deel-te-neem/.