By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The South African legacy foundations have withdrawn from the preparatory team of the planned National Convention, citing a lack of credibility and a shift towards government control.
The National Convention will take place from 15 to 17 August 2025 at the ZK Matthews Hall, University of South Africa (UNISA), Pretoria.
The organisations withdrawing are the Thabo Mbeki Foundation, the Steve Biko Foundation, the Chief Albert Luthuli Foundation, the Desmond and FW De Klerk foundations.
The foundations say the 15th August convention has strayed from being citizen-led and risks becoming a rushed, government-controlled event.
They cite among others the erosion of citizen leadership, loss of meaningful platform for dialogue, and a lack of operational infrastructure.
In a statement they said, “The decision does not represent a withdrawal from the National Dialogue project itself.We propose the convention be rescheduled, allowing for adequate preparation, coherence and participatory integrity.”
The announcement came despite a meeting with President Cyril Ramaphosa on Thursday in an attempt to resolve their concerns.
Fullview understands one of the foundations’ complaints to Ramaphosa was over a delayed funding transfer. To resolve this, the government had sourced support for accommodation and transport.
The foundations said: “The continued absence of a confirmed, approved budget allocation and a last-minute commitment of initial funds has made sound preparation impossible. This raises real risks of a poorly organised and unaccountable process.”
They warned: “The push to proceed has created pressure to engage in emergency procurement, which may violate the Public Finance Management Act.”
The foundations said there are logistical challenges for the convention next week but also “deep disagreements within the preparatory task team over the nature of the dialogue, readiness, governance and risk”.
“It cannot be a government-led process, as this will undermine any credibility.”
To ensure it is inclusive, the foundations want 13,664 community and sectoral dialogues with 50,000 citizen-led dialogues.
The National Convention serves as the launchpad for an inclusive and people-led dialogue process aimed at carving a shared vision for the country. It is expected to come up with a clear roadmap to facilitate participation and ensure that citizens have the opportunity to contribute meaningfully to the Dialogue process.
The National Dialogue presents an opportunity to forge a new social compact that drives progress towards Vision 2030 and lays the foundation for South Africa’s next National Development Plan.