R700m dialogue useless without action – Steenhuisen
DA leader John Steenhuisen says South Africa’s proposed National Dialogue will amount to nothing unless the government takes real action against corruption and poor governance.
Steenhuisen, who also serves as Agriculture Minister, has raised alarm over the dialogue's lack of transparency, questioning its legitimacy and cost.
He says he only learned about its R700 million price tag through media reports, and not through official GNU channels.
"The first time I found out that there was a R700 million price tag on this thing was when I read it in the media,” said Steenhuisen.
"And yet budgets appear to have been discussed in an (ANC) NEC setting.”
The National Dialogue, championed by President Cyril Ramaphosa, is meant to bring together political parties, civil society, faith-based groups, and other stakeholders for a broad reflection on South Africa’s democratic journey, 30 years after the end of apartheid.
However, the Democratic Alliance has announced it will boycott the initiative, accusing the Presidency of using the process to save political face.
"If you're wanting an inclusive dialogue that genuinely takes into account the people of South Africa’s views and opinions, and is not hijacked as an electoral face-saving mechanism… there needed to have been far greater transparency and accountability,” Steenhuisen argued.
He added that he was never consulted about his role in the Inter-Ministerial Committee overseeing the process, and only found out he was on it when he received a last-minute meeting notice.
Fallout within the GNU
The fallout comes days after President Ramaphosa fired Deputy Minister Andrew Whitfield, a senior DA member, for travelling to the United States without prior approval. While the Presidency said the dismissal was about maintaining protocol, the DA claims it was politically motivated.
Despite boycotting the dialogue, the DA remains committed to the GNU.
But that has sparked a strong rebuke from President Ramaphosa, who accused the DA of hypocrisy and walking away from South Africans.
"That is the worst form of hypocrisy I have ever encountered,” Ramaphosa said at a press briefing at the Union Building on Friday.
"You sign on to a document, and then for completely different reasons… You lash out at the very issue you supported.”
Ramaphosa stressed the dialogue was a non-partisan platform initiated in response to calls from ordinary South Africans and civil society to assess the country’s progress and chart a way forward.
Steenhuisen, however, remains unconvinced.
"A dialogue isn’t going to feed anybody. It’s not going to build a single house. It’s not going to create a single job,” he said.
"People have had 30 years of talking. What they need now is delivery.”
Calls for consistency on corruption
The DA leader doubled down on the party’s position, saying the dialogue cannot be taken seriously while ministers implicated in state capture and corruption remain in Cabinet.
"You can come up with the most fantastical resolutions... but if those plans are to be implemented by the very people involved in maladministration, it will end up like every other talk shop we’ve had in the last 20 years,” he warned.
He also slammed what he sees as double standards in the president’s Cabinet, saying minor offences are dealt with harshly while ministers facing serious allegations remain protected.
“You have others who are standing accused of far more serious matters and who’ve demonstrated they do not believe that Parliament or the public should hold them accountable, and they are still sitting around the Cabinet table.”
Steenhuisen said the DA will not participate in the dialogue until action is taken against the corrupt.
Criticism of Mbeki’s letter
He also dismissed former President Thabo Mbeki’s scathing letter, which criticised the DA’s boycott as an attempt to defend the ANC.
"The scathing part of Mbeki’s letter is that it reveals the ANC’s hand in all of this,” said Steenhuisen
"It should set alarm bells off for any civil society organisation entering this in good faith.”
Steenhuisen said the DA will instead focus its energy on implementing the Medium-Term Development Plan, the government’s official roadmap to achieving 3% growth and job creation.
"Let’s go out there and spend our executive energy on implementing that plan so that we can start to see tangible benefits for the people of South Africa.”
