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Abahlali Basemjondolo has vowed to utilise the National Dialogue to disrupt the country\u2019s status quo, which suppresses the voices of the people on the ground.<\/span><\/p>\n The group\u2019s general secretary, Thapelo Mohapi, <\/span>said the group would ensure that the government does not have an upper hand<\/span> in conducting the dialogue across the country.<\/span><\/p>\n The civic society, which lobbies for the better lives of informal settlement dwellers, participated in the two-day National Convention at the University of South Africa (Unisa) on Friday and Saturday. <\/span><\/p>\n The convention was to draft a roadmap for the discussions to find a way of dealing with the country\u2019s challenges.<\/span><\/p>\n The last day of the convention on Saturday at Unisa\u2019s <\/span>ZK Matthews Hall<\/span> was expected to give direction on how the dialogues would be convened in all spheres of society. <\/span><\/p>\n Like many groups of society, Abahlali was concerned that under the government\u2019s control, the dialogue would become another talk-shop. <\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWe are here to disrupt the status quo because we want this dialogue to be for the people by the people,\u201d said Mahapi, who participated in a plenary session that dealt with crime and corruption.<\/span><\/p>\n Mohapi was concerned that if the dialogue was controlled by the government, it would end up being like various commissions of inquiries whose recommendations ended up gathering dust without implementation. <\/span><\/p>\n He said the people who are poor and marginalised used various platforms to express their views, but the government never recognised them.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThis dialogue must be rooted in the ground, it must be people-led,\u201d he said. <\/span><\/p>\n Abahlali would take the agenda crafted by the plenary sessions to its constituents for scrutiny.<\/span><\/p>\n He said he wanted the dialogue that is going to deal with the informal settlement dwellers who are constantly victims of shack fires and floods. <\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWe are saying these are the issues of the people,\u201d said Mohapi. <\/span><\/p>\n Independent political analyst Dr Imraan Buccus was concerned that the dialogue was constructed as an elite project \u201cthat takes into account organisations and individuals that don\u2019t necessarily speak on behalf of the masses of the people\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n He agreed with the growing consensus that serious questions need to be asked about whether we need a dialogue at all. <\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s ample research and other participatory processes that tell us what we already need to know,\u201d Buccus said. <\/span><\/p>\n He was also concerned about the money spent on conducting the dialogue. <\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThe R700m being used for the dialogue would be better utilised to address the deficit we already know about,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n Sinesipho Soxujwa, who represented the Unemployed People\u2019s Movement at the opening of the dialogue, said on <\/span>Saturday that <\/span>people on the street were expecting the dialogue to come up with a resolution to promote local businesses to create job opportunities. <\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWe must oblige the private sector to invest in the communities instead of extracting from them and not giving back. <\/span>We must ensure a living wage to uplift people trapped in poverty,\u201d said Soxujwa.<\/span><\/p>\n Soxujwa briefly stole the limelight when she called for the dialogue not to be a polite conversation that would avoid the truth.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWe want this dialogue to tackle the issues that we deal with daily. <\/span>We want it to go on a route of the unemployment issues, and we have talked and talked and came to the conclusion that the dialogue should reject neoliberalism and build an economy that is going to serve the people first. <\/span><\/p>\n \u201cAnd also defend water, electricity, transport, and houses as rights and not commodities,\u201d she said. <\/span><\/p>\n University of KwaZulu-Natal-based political analyst Zakhele Ndlovu said <\/span>the dialogue should consider changing the electoral system to one that enables voters to hold public representatives, such as members of Parliament and councillors, accountable<\/span>. <\/span><\/p>\n \u201cOur electoral system is the biggest problem because public representatives are accountable to political parties, who deploy them and not the voters.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Although questioning the necessity of the dialogue, Ndlovu hoped that the issue of the electoral system would be discussed because it is a fundamental issue.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cWe voted for the people to do the job, which they don\u2019t do. As a result, we now have the National Dialogue. <\/span><\/p>\n \u201cHow do you justify the cost of R700 million? <\/span>This thing is like the commissions that do not help because if you look at the Zondo Commission, over R1 billion was spent, but no one has been prosecuted,\u201d said Ndlovu.<\/span><\/p>\n National Dialogue spokesperson Rev Zwoitwaho Nevhutalu told the SAFM listeners on Saturday morning that the dialogue was meant to unite the voices of the citizens. <\/span><\/p>\n \u201cLet us pull all these into a common objective to shape the destiny of our country and ourselves, and of the future generations,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n bongani.hans@inl.co.za<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Abahlali Basemjondolo has vowed to utilise the National Dialogue to disrupt the country\u2019s status quo, which suppresses the voices of the people on the ground. The group\u2019s general secretary, Thapelo Mohapi, said the group would ensure that the government does not have an upper hand in conducting the dialogue across the country. The civic society, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":250246,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[1483,11536,1380,11533,11388,2282,14098,4889],"class_list":["post-250245","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-politics","tag-challenge","tag-civic","tag-control","tag-dialogue","tag-discussions","tag-government","tag-groups","tag-national"],"yoast_head":"\n