President Cyril Ramaphosa’s national dialogue to address the pressing issues in the country will address the divisions created by US President Donald Trump’s offer of resettlement to white Afrikaners as well as issues on unemployment and poor governance. 

On Tuesday, Ramaphosa announced the appointment of an “eminent persons group” made up of 31 prominent South Africans who will lead the National Dialogue, set to take place on 15 August 2025.

The dialogue will also recent comments made by US President Donald Trump, who invited white Afrikaners to relocate to the US based on false claims of white genocide – an issue that has become a divisive factor in the country.

One of the eminent persons, who requested anonymity, said the dialogue can be seen as a response to these concerns, aiming to address the country’s challenges and promote national building.

“The issue should definitely come up, although everybody has a choice to leave the country…We are way beyond the colour lines now and should focus on nation building with the people who are in the country, instead of dwelling in the past.

“Sure, it’s a bone of contention but we do have bigger problems,” she said.

However, not all are on board with Ramaphosa’s dialogue initiative. 

The uMkhonto weSizwe Party has rejected the dialogue as an “elitist farce,” saying it is a “staged theatre for the political elite”.

In a statement on Wednesday, its spokesperson Nhlamulo Ndhlela asked why there were no ordinary South Africans, such as shack dwellers, represented?

“We reject this dialogue as a tone-deaf charade engineered by a regime clinging to power, desperately trying to manufacture consent through elitist backroom dealings.

“The so-called Eminent Persons Group, handpicked by the very same ruling class responsible for mass unemployment, deepening poverty, collapsing infrastructure and the ongoing betrayal of the Freedom Charter, is a mockery of the suffering endured daily by millions of destitute and despondent South African,” Ndhlela wrote.

The EFF has also expressed skepticism, questioning the government’s motives and the selection process for the Eminent Persons Group. 

“The challenges Ramaphosa’s National Dialogue seek to address are not a product of triumph of human sacrifice against evil, which require collective national reconstruction, but are a product of man-made destruction and corruption of which he and the party he leads have been at the centre of,” the EFF said in a statement.

The DA’s national spokesperson, Willie Aucamp, welcomed the National Dialogue saying his party would embrace the opportunity. 

“I think it’s high time that we as a nation get together and discuss collectively what we see as a road forward for this country,” he said.

Build One South Africa (BOSA) described the announcement as a positive and necessary step forward for the country at a time of great political uncertainty, public anxiety, and economic malaise.

The GOOD Party’s general secretary Brett Herron said it was long overdue as the wait had been frustrating.

“Nearly a year has passed since political parties signed the Statement of Intent of the Government of National Unity (GNU), which explicitly committed to convening a National Dialogue to tackle the country’s deep and urgent challenges…The delay in giving effect to this promise has been frustrating, but the time for talking has finally arrived, and it must now be time for action too,” Herron said.

Last month the first group of more than 59 white South African Afrikaners landed in the US after a private plane was chartered for them after Trump in February had issued an executive order where Washington cited the Expropriation Act 13 of 2024 as one that enables the persecution of Afrikaners and thus gave them “refugee status”.

Last week, a second, smaller batch of white Afrikaners quietly arrived in the US as part of Trump’s resettlement offer.

Ramaphosa said the dialogue will focus on several key areas, including economic growth, job creation, and social cohesion.

“We are called upon to build a thriving, inclusive economy that creates jobs and opportunities. We are called upon to build safer communities and to create a better future for our children,” Ramaphosa said.

Source link