Community dialogues in ‘every ward’

Conveners say the event ts a ‘people’s project’

- HOPE NTANZI, MANYANE MANYANE and SIMON MAJADIBODU

THOUSANDS of community dialogues across the country are expected to form part of the National Dialogue process, and 60% of the costs for the project will be funded by the government.

This was said yesterday by National Convention organising committee spokesperson Reverend Zwoitwaho Nevhutalu, who clarified that the widely discussed R700 million budget for the national dialogue was not a government allocation but a draft figure prepared by the preparatory task team.

The National Convention is scheduled to take place on August 15 and 16 in Pretoria.

The clarification comes after the estimated R700 million price tag ignited a wave of criticism from trade unions, political parties, academics and sectors of civil society, especially in a context of austerity measures, service delivery failures and deepening inequality.

Speaking at a media briefing at UNISA yesterday on the state of readiness to host the first convention, Nevhutalu said, “You see, the budget that people were talking about, the R700m and so on, was a budget prepared by the preparatory task team. It’s not a government budget.”

He added that the conceptual funding framework envisages 60% of costs being covered by the government through the fiscus, while the remaining 40% would come from donors in cash and in kind.