National dialogue as act of self-healing

SOUTH Africa should have a national dialogue. It shouldn't cost R700 million. Its outcomes should influence the next three elections if we are serious about it. If we get it right, we should have one every 10 years. The problem is that South African politicians and bureaucrats continually devise ways to spend money yet consistently fail to devise methods for determining whether the outcomes of those expenditures have been achieved.

- LORENZO A DAVIDS

In his opposition to the proposed cost of the national dialogue, DA leader John Steenhuisen said the recent elections were South African conversations. The problem with that statement is that South Africa, with 63 million people and 28 million registered voters, only had 16 million people turn up to vote. That's just under 27% of our total population. If we include the demographic capacity for participation, then our elections are essentially a case of the middle and upper classes doing all the talking. The national dialogue is a call to all South Africans to share their views on the kind of country they wish to live in. During elections, its politicians and party loyalists doing all the talking. Any opposing voices are usually shouted down. Our elections prove that many poor people are too discouraged to vote. But they do have a voice.