Convention sabotages National Dialogue

ANOTHER VOICE

- LORENZO A DAVIDS

AS EVERYONE knows by now, the National Convention was a national disaster. It was unrepresentative, government-controlled, and as disorganised as an ANC National Elective Conference. The first sign that this was a state-controlled conversation was the way the important bureaucrats and their special friends all seated themselves in the front rows. It was an early indication that the bureaucracy was fully in control.

Firstly, it’s important to know how the people who attended the National Convention were selected to be there? Who were they representing and speaking on behalf of? The attendees were not elected to represent any wards, districts, or local organisations. No one had any power to represent any part of the country or any group. It was a “by invitation” event. No community had met to send any issues to the National Convention. Secondly, why was a National Convention held before the National Dialogue? The National Convention should be the culmination of the process of having the National Dialogue. All the issues discovered, debated, and mandated during the National Dialogue are then taken, under the curatorship of elected leaders, to a National Convention.