Ramaphosa’s national dialogue: An expensive waste of time

AS THIS past weekend's chaotic events have already shown, President Ramaphosa's National Dialogue is a monumental waste of time and of R700 million of our money. An echo chamber and another ill-considered, expensive talk shop.

- 

When the president in his opening remarks at the National Convention claimed they were all there as the “representatives of our communities...collectively over the next months we will decide the best way forward to assist our communities’, it merely confirmed that we were in trouble.

What on earth are all the thousands of MPs, MPLs, local government councillors, and ward committees in Parliament, the nine provincial legislatures, NCOP, and city and town halls across the land for then?

Then, when President Ramaphosa took to the podium — an hour late — and welcomed and specifically complimented his deputy Paul Mashatile for his input and assistance, I reeled.

Mashatile, has had criminal charges of corruption laid against him by the DA, was fined R10 000 for not registering all of his assets in the parliamentary register, and is yet to explain his accumulation of three palatial homes valued at almost R100 million.