Problems and Purpose

South Africa faces continuous social and economic challenges, including poverty, unemployment and long-lasting social divisions. These challenges prevent South Africans from realising their full potential and hinders the nations progress toward a united and inclusive democracy. The purpose of the South African National Dialogue is “to provide a chance for all South Africans, from all walks of life, to come together and help shape the next chapter of its democracy” (The Mercury, 2025, n.p). Furthermore, the dialogues’ purpose is to help define a vision for South Africa for the next 30 years, unite South Africans, heal past wounds and chart a common path forward” (The Mercury, 2025, n.p).

Background History and Context

South Africa transitioned from an apartheid regime to a democratic government in 1994 after 46 years of apartheid oppression. The apartheid system, “which lasted from 1948-1994 was based on racial segregation and the exploitation of the majority black population” (Finna, 2025, n.p). In 2024, South Africa celebrated 30 years of democracy together with the 2024 elections, celebrating the country’s progress in building a constitutional order rooted in freedom, equality and human rights (South African Government News Agency, 2024, n.p). But even with these achievements, South Africa continues to face high unemployment, poverty and inequality, which contribute to social tensions and growing crime rates. “South Africa’s unemployment rate has worsened from 32.9% to 33.2% in the second quarter of 2025” (Hinney, 2025, n.p). Additionally, “around 55% of South Africans live below the poverty line which is characterised by a lack of access to basic services such as health and education, low-skilled labour and limited resources” (Finnan, 2025, n.p). Many of the challenges faced in South Africa are rooted in the country’s historical legacy of apartheid. This legacy of apartheid includes high levels of unemployment, a lack of access to education, and a lack of economic opportunities.

These persistent challenges highlight the need for an inclusive initiative like the National Dialogue which aims at giving South African citizens an opportunity to “confront South Africa’s complex legacy, address the inequalities of the past, and build a more just, equitable, and prosperous society for all” (Tsibani, 2025, n.p). According to President Ramaphosa, “the National Dialogue aims to give ordinary South Africans a voice to articulate precisely the South Africa they want and how they can participate in crafting the solutions of our country” (South African Government News Agency, 2025, n.p). The National Dialogue is a three-stage process, including:

1. Stage 1: The First National Convention, held from 15-16 August, which launched the dialogue process and set the direction for how it would move forward.
2. Stage 2: A series of community and citizen-led dialogues, designed to deepen public participation and shape community and sectoral priorities.
3. Stage 3: The Second National Convention, scheduled to happen in early 2026, which will integrate the outcomes from the dialogues into a shared vision and programme of action.

Organizing, Supporting, and Funding Entities

The 2025 South African National Dialogue was convened by the President of South Africa, President Cyril Ramaphosa with “the aim of engaging all South Africans in a countrywide engagement on the challenges facing the country, and forge actions to create a new vision and agree on a programme of action to take the country forward” (South African Government News Agency, 2025, n.p). Alongside President Ramaphosa was the National Convention Organising Committee. President Ramaphosa announced the appointment of an Eminent Persons Group which included 13 people. According to President Ramaphosa, the Eminent Persons Group “will guide and champion the national dialogue and act as the guarantors of an inclusive, constructive and credible process” (Mabuza, 2025, n.p). The eminent persons group included the likes of, Mia le Roux, Miss South Africa 2024, Siya Kolisi, Springbok captain and world champion, and Lindiwe Mazibuko, former member of Parliament. Civil society organisations such as the “Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU), Federations of Unions of South Africa (FEDUSA), and South African Council of Churches (SACC) also formed part of the National Dialogue” (Jacobs, 2025, n.p). COSATU supported the Dialogue by highlighting the terrible socio-economic challenges faced by the working class and the need of mobilising society. FEDUSA saw the necessity for a reliable space for national consensus, contingent on enforceable reforms and tangible, redistributive outcomes. SACC, similarly, shared concerns about transparency and inclusivity but confirmed its participation to ensure an inclusive, transparent and credible process (Jacobs, 2025, n.p). Together, these civil society organisations shared a common dedication of creating a fairer South Africa, highlighting ongoing socio-economic inequalities, and fostering inclusive governance. University of South Africa (UNISA) was a major donor for this event, providing services free of charge, services included providing facilities for an operations centre, catering, ushers, audio-visual services, printing of discussion documents, signage, conference bags, notepads, pens and Wi-Fi (Shomokele, 2025, n.p). The Kagiso Trust donated R2 million, and other NGOs whose names were not specified also contributed” (Jacobs, 2025).

Participant Recruitment and Selection

The first National Convention, which took place in August at UNISA in Tshwane, “brought together more than 1 000 delegates from over 200 organisations across 30 sectors of society, including business, labour, traditional leaders, faith-based organisations, women, youth students, academics, military veterans, persons with disabilities, unemployed persons, as well as organisations in media, sport, culture, democracy and human rights” (South African Government News Agency, 202, n.p). According to the South African Government Official Information and Services, prior to the convention, a National Dialogue Preparatory Task Team was elected, which was made up of representatives from different foundations, civil society organisations and The Presidency (South African Government Official and Services, 2025, n.p). The Task Team was responsible for preparing for the National Convention and other activities including a series of information sessions and consultations with a number of stakeholders in preparation for the first National Convention held on August 15, 2025 (South African Government Official and Services, 2025, n.p). After the first National Convention, all sectors present in the convention were tasked with nominating members into the Steering Committee to help guide the process, highlighting inclusivity and the importance of representation in the committee (South African Government News Agency, 2025, n.p). The South African Government News Agency further mentioned that the Steering Committee was to be supported by the Eminent Persons Group which would be tasked with championing the dialogue, providing advice, and also advice the Head of State as the convenor of the National Dialogue to ensure inclusivity and credibility throughout the dialogue (South African Government News Agency, 2025, n.p).

A limitation of the present information on the National Dialogue is the unavailability of official sources showing the criteria or procedures used to recruit and select participants. Even though many sources quote and highlight inclusivity, there is no detailed evidence of how representation was put into action. For example, there is no clear evidence or information on how the civil societies or Eminent Persons Groups were chosen and brought up to participate in the dialogue. But, according to the South African Government News Agency, President Cyril Ramaphosa emphasised that “there should be no person, no part of society and no institution, either public or private, that is excluded from the conversation, the dialogue should break down the barriers between ‘insiders’ and ‘outsiders’ and challenge the notions of ‘us and them’ (South African Government News Agency, 2025). This shows a repetitive dedication to inclusivity, while effective techniques for making sure this kind of inclusion stays unclear or not captured down.

Methods and Tools Used

The National Dialogue can be seen as a deliberative mechanism that aims to foster inclusive participation and collective problem-solving between different social, political and community actors. As mentioned in the ‘background and context’ section, the national dialogue involves different stages of engagement that are designed to ensure that diverse voices are heard. According to an announcement by UNISA, the National Dialogue itself will take the form of public dialogues across South Africa in communities and sectors over several months. These public dialogues were meant to kick-off straight after the first National Convention and into the beginning of 2026.

The first tool of engagement was the National Convention, held from 15-16 August at the University of South Africa (UNISA), and it marked the beginning of the National Dialogue process. This National Convention aimed to discuss the need and value of a National Dialogue, outline and agree on the key themes for discussion in the National Dialogue and set up broadly representative Steering Committee to coordinate the implementation of the National Dialogue moving forward. “The first National Convention provided a platform for these representatives to mobilise their communities and constituencies in preparation for the coming public engagements (NEDLAC, 2025, p.7).

The National Dialogue aimed at awakening South Africa’s community and agency and to do that it proposed ward-based and citizen-initiated dialogues which are also referred to as the public dialogues. The ward-based and citizen-initiated dialogues are tasked to develop Community Action Plans and Sectoral Compacts for sustained people-led development, mutual accountability, strengthening civil society and deepening democracy. “The Public Dialogues, the true heart of the National Dialogue process, are designed to be a representative, bottom-up process, the true embodiment of the founding principle that the National Dialogue should be a citizen-led process” (NEDLAC, 2025, p.3). The public dialogues give South Africans an opportunity of 6 to 9 months to engage in national problem-solving conversations from local community halls to virtual webinars, covering specific topics from economic growth and poverty reduction to constitutional reform and strengthening participatory democracy (NEDLAC, 2025, p.4).

After the discussions across the country in different sectors and on issues that citizens feel need national attention, the discussions will be grouped into agenda themes for national engagement. A second National Convention, scheduled for early 2026 will then bring together these discussions into a common national vision and implementation programme (South African Government Official Information and Services, 2025, n.p). So, “the outcomes of the Public Dialogues will be drawn into a Final National Convention where a draft National Compact and a 30-Year Vision and Plan for the SOUTH AFRICA WE WANT, whose aim is to turn these inputs into real, actionable plans and a roadmap to move South Africa forward will be deliberated upon and approved” (NEDLAC, 2025, p.4).

What Went On: Process, Interaction, and Participation

The National Dialogue is currently an ongoing process, so the information in this section is based on the First National Convention that has already taken place. Prior to the official proceedings of the National Dialogue, some organisations withdrew from the process, after questioning the credibility and legitimacy of the dialogue. Seven Legacy Foundations which promote democracy, human rights and community development, including “the Thabo Mbeki Foundation, Steve Biko Foundation, Desmond Tutu Foundation, Chief Albert Luthuli Foundation, WDB Foundation, Oliver and Adelaide Tambo Foundation and the Strategic Dialogue Group withdrew from the dialogue due to ‘deep regret’ to protect the process’s credibility and integrity” (Jacobs, 2025, n.p.). Political parties and advocacy organisations representing political interests such as the ActionSA, AfriForum and Solidarity, Freedom Front Plus (FF Plus), Democratic Alliance (DA), uMkhonto weSizwe Party (MK Party), and Afrikaner Leadership Network (ALN) also withdrew from the process (Jacobs, 2025, n.p). The withdrawals related to concerns and controversies around:

1. ‘Elite capture’ and exclusions: Critics argued that the dialogue was not fully inclusive, as it excluded key political sectors, raising fears that it might serve elite interests instead of reflecting the needs of ordinary South Africans.
2. Accountability for corruption: Some argue that the government does not have moral imperative to convene the dialogue while widespread reports of corruption and mismanagement of state resource remain unaddressed.
3. Legitimacy and Duplication: The National Dialogue is said to be expensive and is a dangerous duplication of the national legislature.
4. Budgetary scrutiny: The estimated R700 million budget for the National Dialogue has faced public backlash, especially since South Africa continues to struggle with service delivery and inequality issues. The National Convention spokesperson Rev Zwoitwaho Nevhutalu clarified that the R700 million was a draft estimation prepared by the preparatory task team, and it is not a final government allocation.
5. The dialogue being as another “talk shop” that is disconnected from real challenges (Jacobs, 2025, n.p).

Regardless of the withdrawals, President Cyril Ramaphosa maintained his decision to proceed with the dialogue, highlighting that the National Convention is important for the people of South Africa to take ownership and control of the National Dialogue.

The National Dialogue process commenced on 15-16 August, beginning with the first National Convention at UNISA. The main purpose of this convention was to set the agenda for the whole National Dialogue process. On August 15, the convention opened with a plenary, where President Cyril Ramaphosa delivered the opening address and formally declared the convention open. According to President Cyril Ramaphosa’s oral replies to questions in the National Assembly on September 9, 2025, the national convention was a great success, where delegates supported the need for and value of a National Dialogue. He stated that the Convention agreed on nine broad themes for the National Dialogue, and the nine broad themes identified were:

1. Building a dynamic, inclusive economy, jobs and livelihoods
2. Tackling crime and corruption
3. Winning the future through education and a healthy nation
4. Fixing the State and making the Constitution work
5. Building South African values, culture and strengthening South Africa’s social fabric
6. Advancing gender equality and ending gender-based violence and femicide
7. Dealing with intergenerational trauma and healing
8. Promoting environmental justice
9. Advancing land and mineral rights

Furthermore, President Ramaphosa stated that “the delegates in the first National Convention expressed their support for a representative Steering Committee to drive the National Dialogue process and after the first convention, organisations involved in the 32 identified sectors met to nominate their representatives to the Steering Committee” (Maqhina, 2025). The nominations would then be put together by the Eminent Persons Group to ensure inclusivity and representation before the Steering Committee is constituted. Additionally, once the Steering Committee has been established it will work together with the Inter-Ministerial Committee chaired by the Deputy President, Mr Paul Mashatile, and with the advice of the Eminent Persons Group to coordinate public dialogues across the country.

According to Madibane, after President Cyril Ramaphosa’s call to road-map the action plans of the National Dialogue, different dialogue labs were held to discuss and deliberate on how the Dialogue will reach all spheres of society (Madibane,2025, n.p). On 16 August, representatives of the different dialogues shared their results to the plenary which was made up of civil society, politicians, non-governmental organisations and gender rights movements, among other groups. The labs raised many issues and proposals which are meant to add on a broader draft problem statement and National Dialogue information sheets. Points proposed by the labs included:

1. Being heard and included
2. Unity and diversity
3. People-driven solutions
4. Action and implementation
5. Centring the voice of the youth and actively addressing youth unemployment (Madiabane, 2025, n.p).

Furthermore, Jonelle Naudé, Chairperson of the nniDialogue Institute, a global NGO that supports organisations, multilaterals, governments and communities alike to further inclusive systemic change and transformative collaboration, highlighted the envisioned values that should be maintained during the groundwork of the national dialogue. Jonelle Naudé proposed the following:

1. Safety and Inclusivity: Physical and psychological safety should be prioritised, people should be trauma-informed and power aware and ensure that every voice is included, especially marginalised voices.
2. Transformative: The dialogue should go beyond surface-level to allow deep healing, restoration and resilience.
3. Empowering and Connecting: The dialogue should create empathy, understanding, and a sense of empowerment and connection between participants, and linking grassroots dialogues to national platforms.
4. Dialogue generative: The dialogue should facilitate meaningful dialogues that bring together different views to new insights, collective action and topic advancement.
5. Transparency: the dialogue should ensure the open sharing of process, budgets and outcomes
6. Accessibility: the dialogue should be language-inclusive, physically accessible and sensitive to the needs of persons living with disabilities. (Madibane, 2025, n.p).

Influence, Outcomes, and Effects

Since the National Dialogue is a newly introduced initiative launched in 2025, it does not yet have final outcomes or measurable influence or effects. But there are already some growing effects and intended outcomes that reflect the progress and direction of the dialogue so far. The South African National Dialogue aimed to create a national platform for cooperation and consensus-building between political, civil, business, and faith-based sectors, influencing public discourse and bringing in new ways of participatory engagement. “The National Dialogue is an opportunity to create new social compact for the development of South Africa, with clear responsibilities for different stakeholders, government, business, labour civil society, men and women, communities and citizens” (South African Government Official Information and Services, 2025, n.p). The dialogue intends on providing South Africans an opportunity to help in shaping the next chapter of their democracy.

The dialogue is planning on having 13 500 ward engagements which will be facilitated in local languages, and hosted in community halls, schools and other accessible venues (Khoza, 2025). The National Dialogue intends on creating action plans and sectoral compacts, which will be integrated by the Steering Committee and shared at the Second National Convention in 2026, where a people’s compact is said to be adopted.

The effects of the dialogue are that it has created space for ordinary South African citizens to share ideas and be heard outside of traditional political spaces. The dialogue motivated collaboration across different sectors including government, civil society and grassroot communities. The dialogue has created space for marginalised groups such as youth, people with disabilities, women and LGBTQ+ community to have a voice and be visible. The national dialogue is slowly trying to strengthen democratic culture and citizen trust in participatory processes.

Analysis and Lessons Learned

Since the National Dialogue was recently launched in 2025, complete evaluations of its outcomes and impacts are not yet available. This analysis is therefore based on official statements, media reports and theoretical reasoning. To see if this case genuinely promotes inclusiveness and representation, it is helpful to look at it through the lens of the Democratic Innovations Theory and Arnstein’s Ladder of Citizen Participation. Democratic innovation is identified in literature as some form of improvement or change that seeks to increase, diversify, or deepen opportunities for citizen participation in governance, policy, or public administration processes. “Democratic innovation studies develop from the analysis of a wide range of practical, political, and theoretical responses to the critiques of contemporary democracy, decline in citizen trust in and satisfaction with it and attempts to regenerate it (Fominaya, 2022, p.80). On the other hand, Arnstein’s Ladder of Participation is a formative framework which provides a useful classification for understanding different levels of citizens’ engagement in democratic processes. Arnstein explains that “citizen participation is a categorical term for citizen power, it is the redistribution of power that allows the have-not citizens’ presently excluded from the political and economic processes to be deliberately included in the future” (Arnstein, 1969, p.1).The National Dialogue is a practical example of a democratic innovation because its aim is to create new spaces for citizens to deliberate beyond traditional forms of deliberation such as parliament. The dialogue also highlights inclusivity and representation which are key concepts of the Democratic Innovations Theory.

It is important to note though that inclusivity and representation must translate into genuine and real power for citizens, connecting to Arnstein’s Ladder of Participation, which emphasises the importance of moving away from tokenistic participation and rather move towards delegated power. “The National Dialogue is a citizen-led, non-partisan process to listen, solve, and rebuild, from ward to nation, everyone has a say” (National Dialogue, n.d.). Now that the dialogue presents itself as a “citizen-led process” and “everyone has a say”, participation therefore in the dialogue should not be symbolic. Participants in the dialogues should not be included for the sake of having them there, but participants should be given the opportunity to voice out their concerns, share their views and influence decisions. Every participant in the dialogue should be able to influence outcomes, making sure that inclusivity translates to meaningful and influential participation.

Still on the “citizen-led process”, Matlala has critiqued this view stating that “the process is not citizen-led in practice, and its planning, structure and execution reflects a top-down, state-managed initiative that is more performative than participatory” (Matlala, 2025, n.p). Matlala further highlights that “from the beginning, the process has been coordinated by an inter-ministerial committee and an eminent persons group, none of whom where publicly nominated or confirmed through open civil processes and even the composition of the steering committee, a supposedly “broad-based” body mandated to guide the next phase of the dialogue, was not informed by transparent consultation” (Matlala, 2025, n.p). Matlala argues that “steering committee was instead deliberated during invitation-only sectoral sessions at the end of the first convention” (Matlala, 2025, n.p). Now this critique raises questions about transparency and legitimacy of the dialogue. In the Democratic Innovations theory, “transparency is a democratic good, and transparency takes into account how accessible the process is to participants and wider public” (Graham Smith, 2009, p.13). The critique links back to the claim that the dialogue is representative and inclusive. Though it aims to include all South Africans, the withdrawals of key organisations and legacy foundations over legitimacy concerns weakens the dialogues credibility. If those participants are not represented, it challenges the Dialogue’s promise of full inclusivity. But transparent engagement with the remaining participants in the dialogue could still somewhat maintain these aims, showing that inclusivity must be carried out and visible to maintain legitimacy.

Lessons learned from the National Dialogue are that, firstly, participation in a democracy goes beyond voting, citizens in a democracy are not just voters but they are active participants who can influence decisions and help shape outcomes. This shows the idea that democracy works best when people are directly involved. Secondly, transparent processes are important in order to guarantee that all voices are heard. Thirdly, even though citizen-led processes can lead to valuable input, their outcomes rely on government follow-through, as participation risks being tokenistic if there is no proper implementation. Lastly, the dialogue shows that democratic innovations can create more spaces for deliberation beyond traditional institutions like parliament, giving citizens spaces to work together with the state or government and contribute to things that are important for the development of their country.

See Also

https://www.youtube.com/live/LjTts6cVk4c?si=mEmzzWoYJmV9_a5U

https://www.youtube.com/live/OtTUSU4bwj0?si=7yGiGpPyhbFJ224e

https://nedlac.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/20251016-REPORT-OF-NATIONAL-CONVENTION-DRAFT-V1.5_with-annexure.pdf

Address by President Cyril Ramaphosa at the First National Convention of the National Dialogue, University of South Africa, Tshwane | The Presidency

References

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External Links

Notes