As the reputations of many of the EPG are on the line, the group has this week defended the process to the hilt - which is its mandate. We ask some of the eminent persons when risking their reputation will be too much, especially with major warning signs of a credibility and legitimacy crisis.
The Eminent Persons Group (EPG) is making every effort to trumpet the credibility of the National Dialogue process in spite of the many challenges and controversies that swirl around it.
The 31-member EPG, who have staked their reputations on the success of the National Dialogue, say they have a clear test of when they will walk away.
“The process has to be transparent, the process has to be inclusive, it must have credibility, and we have to champion this thing,” former Cosatu general-secretary Bheki Ntshalintshali and EPG member told News24 earlier this week.
“If those principles are not adhered to, I don’t see members of the EPG wanting to associate with any processes moving forward,” he added.
Echoing these sentiments, Professor Nomboniso Gasa, a renowned researcher and activist, says she takes her reputation very seriously.
“I have staked my reputation just as many other people have done, because we believe that it is worth it. We trust that it will go according to what it is supposed to,” she says.
EPG co-chair and the vice-chancellor of Tshwane University of Technology, Professor Tinyiko Maluleke, says he is “honoured to be part of a group of volunteers, South Africans, and great patriots of the highest calibre”.
He says that he doesn’t need to be as gloomy as some about this dialogue process and about the future of the country, as it “deserves all the good objectives that have been set since 1994”.
“We should give it another try, and that’s why I am part of the EPG,” Maluleke says.
He says that the assumption that the process will fail, that it’s just another talk shop, and “that those who are outside may never come in, and if they don’t come in, disqualifies the whole process” are “found in evidence and fact of the reality of the country”.
He says that:
The cynicism of which you speak and the negativity of which you speak is a sign that people want to talk, not that people don’t want to talk.
In a statement on Wednesday, expressing their unwavering commitment to the process, the EPG said, “Our role is to be the public guarantors, champions, and advisors to the National Dialogue, which must, by its design and outcomes, be led by citizens from all communities of our country.”
Crisis warning signs
The dialogue, however, has been marred by a legitimacy crisis that has intensified over the past month and is facing a credibility crisis. This, as the National Convention - meant to be the “launch” of the process - takes place on Friday and Saturday at Unisa in Tshwane.
Q&A with Tinyiko Maluleke | ‘We are the guarantors of the National Dialogue’s credibility’
Seven foundations that include the Thabo Mbeki Foundation, the Steve Biko Foundation, and the FW de Klerk Foundation have withdrawn from this convention “in order to protect the long-term credibility and integrity of the dialogue”.
Political parties, including the DA, EFF, ActionSA, Freedom Front Plus, and the MK Party, will also not participate. The DA calls it an “ANC talk shop”, the EFF dismisses it as “ANC-aligned mascots”, while ActionSA says it “will not participate in or lend legitimacy to a process” that has unresolved issues, “particularly regarding the lawful appropriation of the budget”.
READ | OPINION: Archbishop Makgoba, the National Dialogue is a failure. And we can let it fail
The budget of the National Dialogue presented by the Preparatory Task Team (PTT) was estimated to be R700 million, with 60% being funded by the government and 40% from donations. The short timelines and lack of any conclusive evidence of government budgetary approvals has fuelled concerns of a lack of transparency.
The Presidency again issued a statement on Thursday, saying that:
Nedlac and the Presidency are funding the first National Convention’s costs from their existing budgets for secretariat support, communications, as well as logistics.
Mbeki, who earlier had defended the dialogue after the DA said it would not participate and has been its champion since at least early 2024, also indicated, through his foundation, that he would not attend this first convention.
The foundation has gone so far as to reject the government’s claim that the Unisa event constitutes a genuine “National Convention”, creating two competing narratives about what represents the “real” National Dialogue.
All this is over and above the concerns from commentators and ordinary citizens alike, who have voiced misgivings at the confusing nature of the convention and its process, what aims it hopes to achieve, the historical failures of imbizos and government-led engagements with “the people”, and why it has government’s fingerprints all over if, as has been claimed, it is citizen-led.
READ | Ebrahim Fakir: Dialogue, distraction or deception?
Maluleke told News24 on Wednesday that the “challenges” experienced by the PTT and similar structures are of concern to the EPG, “as they may delay or mar the processes”.
But he emphasised that the EPG is not an administrative entity and does not coordinate logistics. “We believe that whatever logistical and even administrative issues, financial [or otherwise], will be solved by the people tasked with dealing with those.”
EPG defends process so far
Ntshalintshali said that he was hoping the first convention would help clarify a lot of lingering questions, including the exact role of the EPG, as the process moves forward.
“Let’s not throw the baby out with the bath water because there might be a few things that are not as clear as they are supposed to be. Let’s go in there and express our views, hoping that the process moving forward will consider all those concerns,” he encourages.
Gasa says they are alive to the concerns raised, particularly regarding the withdrawal of foundations and parties. “We have been discussing it to ensure that the rift is healed.”
“The first National Convention was never meant to be anything else but a launch of the National Dialogue. The dialogue itself happens after the National Convention,” she adds.
READ | Eminent Persons Group seeks to bring National Dialogue’s doubters back into the fold
Gasa says she understands South Africans who are sceptical of this dialogue and whether the government can be trusted.
“All effort is being made to ensure that the National Dialogue is inclusive, that it offers space for South Africans to participate, to shape the process and to shape their future.”
She adds that this work is done to ensure the process is “not another talk shop that is meaningless”.
Asked how this process is different, Gasa says that question will be answered “when you actually see the whole road map after the National Convention and how this thing will be rolled out”.
Though Maluleke remains convinced that none of the issues raised “are insurmountable”. He believes that it is in the nature of a dialogue to disagree and that enhances the process.
Maluleke adamantly argues that so far, “I believe that it is a credible process, and its credibility can only increase.”
