Can a new national dialogue save South Africa — and what about the ANC elephant in the room?

Due to Covid-19, as well as the mismanagement and stagnation that was present well before the pandemic, South Africa has shed millions of jobs. Poverty has increased dramatically and there is a clear failure of leadership at various levels — in politics, business and civil society.

Can this crisis be a catalyst for change?

Could people in the middle ground who have the wellbeing of South Africa at heart forge a new consensus around how to fix the country?

These were the questions asked during a closed discussion (behind the Zoom cameras) of more than 70 of South Africa’s most prominent and influential thinkers and policymakers on 23 February 2021.

The proposal for a new national dialogue was put on the table by the In Transformation Initiative, Democracy Works Foundation, Hanns Seidel Foundation, Kgalema Motlanthe Foundation and Gordon Institute of Business Science.

Figures presented at the event show the depth of the problem. South Africans today are 12% poorer than they were in 2014. “People are starving and hunger is on the rise,” said one speaker.

There has been an unprecedented attack on the judiciary and increased racism and xenophobia.

The consensus of 1994 — the “arranged marriage”, as one speaker put it — is long gone. The social fabric of society is all but ripped up. Those in the virtual room all agreed the situation is dire. 

If nothing is done, “South Africa’s future as a constitutional democracy might be at stake,” said one speaker. There was general agreement that everyone in the country has a role to play in improving the situation.

As to be expected in such a debate, with people representing a diversity of views, there were nuances in the understanding of the crisis, the most urgent priorities and the sequencing of interventions.

From the discussions, however, there was a clear sense that a focus on local government could be a starting point to achieve broader change.

Across the country — from Koster and Swartruggens to Makhanda and Scottburgh — people are taking the law (and cleaning out sewage) into their own hands.

This is the real interface between citizens and government. Yet their negative experience calls into question active citizenship, said one of the speakers.

A focus on building skills, bringing in the private sector to help fix municipalities and encouraging decentralised investment could restore people’s hope in the future. If they see small things improve they can start believing in bigger change.

Would the solution then be to start from this lower level with local government, civil society and the private sector, working up to reach leadership at the helm?

Local elections — to be held before the end of the year — would be an important moment to explore. Together with that, the process of electoral reform to ensure greater accountability from politicians to the electorate would be key. Processes are already under way, led by some of those who participated in the debate, to push for such reforms.

However, others say nothing is possible without fixing politics at the highest level.

The crisis in the ANC is the elephant in the room. If this can’t be fixed, and the organisation can’t even uphold the rule of law by repudiating former president Jacob Zuma, transformation is impossible.

Meanwhile, the opposition has failed to capitalise on the weaknesses in the ruling party.

The insatiable appetite for consumption by the elite, without contributing to growth, has led to a massive underclass, economic stagnation, capital flight and marginalisation of the middle classes, noted another contributor.

The Trump era in the United States and right-wing governments in Europe have shown that there are no more taboos; unequal power relations allow politicians to appeal to people’s worst instincts, with a blaming culture taking hold in many parts of the globe. Globally, we are in a “pre-fascist era”, one speaker said.