Details emerge about National Dialogue costs

The Department of Planning, Monitoring, and Evaluation (DPME) will be spending R270 million on the rollout of the National Dialogue, which will come from the fiscus.

This is according to Anzio Jacobs, a member of the National Convention Planning Committee, who confirmed that the state will contribute 60% of the funds needed for the dialogue.

According to the Presidency, the National Dialogue will host over 13,400 ward dialogues and 50,000 citizen-led engagements over the next year to define a vision for the country over the next three decades.

Backlash arose when it was first announced that the process would cost R700 million. However, this has since been revised and set at R450 million.

“R270 million will have to come out of the fiscus, and indeed it will come out of DPME, which is responsible for the monitoring and planning of development in South Africa,” Jacobs told the SABC.

“The intention is to ask DPME to look at what their development objectives are, and how it can leverage its existing plan to support the dialogues.”

However, he says that the Minister of Planning, Monitoring, and Evaluation, Maropene Ramokgopa, is yet to confirm that the money is available.

“I don’t think that there has been an outright confirmation [that the money is available] and I don’t wish to speak on behalf of the Minister,” Jacobs added.

Despite this, he says the government is calling on South Africans to help support the National Dialogue and not to depend on the state to foot the bill.

While Jacobs could not confirm whether there had been any follow-through regarding monetary contributions from civil society and the private sector, he said that some organisations had offered their facilities and services to the government.

He provided the example of the University of South Africa (UNISA), which has offered a venue, catering, printing, and marketing materials for free.

However, Jacobs said that the National Convention, which will take place on 15 August and is set to kick off the National Dialogue process, will cost R20 million and be covered in full.

“This weekend is sitting at a cost of R20 million. One thousand people are coming in from all nine provinces, so this money is largely being spent on the transportation of the delegation coming to the conference,” said Jacobs.

Two GNU parties have already pulled out

Minister in the Presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni said the dialogue has already received overwhelming interest, with 737 organisations from more than 30 sectors registering to participate, “reflecting the strong desire among South Africans to shape their shared future.”

However, two parties in the Government of National Unity (GNU) and several legacy foundations have already withdrawn from the process, citing exorbitant costs and a lack of a clear plan.

The first of these was the Democratic Alliance, which announced its withdrawal from the process in late June.

“We will also actively mobilise against the National Dialogue to stop this obscene waste of R700 million,” DA leader John Steenhuisen said in June.

“[This starts] with a call on civil society to join us in demanding that the National Dialogue not proceed until President Ramaphosa fires ANC-corruption accused and other delinquents from the executive.”

Then, the Steve Biko, Thabo Mbeki, Chief Albert Luthuli, Desmond and Leah Tutu, and FW de Klerk foundations announced in a joint statement that they would withdraw from the National Dialogue.

The foundations said the decision does not stem from apathy or lack of engagement, but from the neglect of the National Dialogue’s fundamental principles.

“The National Dialogue is a generational opportunity to reconnect the people of South Africa to each other and to the democratic project,” the foundations said.

“But we cannot pursue that goal by cutting corners, centralising power, or rushing the process.”

They argued that the Dialogue, which began as a citizen-led initiative, has fallen under government control.

As a result, they say there has been a push for the convention to commence in mid-August, despite advice from sub-committee chairs, adding that this sacrifices the citizen-led process “for the sake of expediency.”

Most recently, the Freedom Front Plus (FF+) announced it would be withdrawing from the process because the African National Congress (ANC) has made “it impossible to participate.”

FF+ leader Dr Corné Mulder said that while the party supports dialogue, the ANC, as the largest party in the GNU, “is not ready to have a genuine, reasoned and solution-oriented dialogue.”