South Africa: What Ramaphosa Said About Democratic Alliance Withdrawal from National Dialogue
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa made the statement below after the Government of National Unity partner, the Democratic Alliance (DA), withdrew from the country’s national dialogue. In an earlier statement, leader of the DA, John Steenhuisen, had said: “Our withdrawal and mobilisation against the National Dialogue, as well as our opposition against the budgets of corruption-accused Ministers, is the first in a series of possible steps that are now on the table, in an attempt to fix the GNU to align with the mandate that you – the voters – gave us in the 2024 election.”
Full statement by President Ramaphosa at a press briefing during his State visit to Austria:
The worst form of hypocrisy that I’ve ever heard. You sign on to a document and thereafter for completely different reasons that have to do with governance in the government of national unity, you then lash out against precisely the same issue that you signed on for and agreed to, but it also really represents the poverty of good principles, where a party that stands for inclusivity and democracy in South Africa, then goes against what the people of South Africa have said they wanted.
People of South Africa said they wanted a national dialogue, and that is what we’re responding to. It’s not only the foundations. It’s also the churches. It’s also ordinary people in our country who said, 30 years down the line, we would like to have a dialogue. We would like to see where South Africa is headed to, and this is precisely what we are responding to. And we believe that the people of South Africa need to be given an opportunity to dialogue with each other, and this is not a party political platform.
It’s a platform that will see the participation of the people of South Africa as a whole, sitting together and political parties will play a very minimal role, or more or less the same role as any other, a soccer team, delegation or cultural delegation, all of us will play the same role. So it really is poverty of adherence to good principles for a party to walk away from the people of South Africa, because this is precisely walking away from the people of South Africa and defining yourself outside what the people of South Africa are embracing.
What is wrong with the dialogue? Nothing is is wrong with the dialogue. It’s about people getting together. So what I can say is that the national dialogue will continue without the participation of the Democratic Alliance, and we will probably have a very, very successful dialogue without diversionary inputs or interference from a party that does not have the interest of South Africans at heart. So we, together with all other people in South Africa, will be party to that. We went through a dialogue, a very overarching dialogue, when we drafted our Constitution. Constitution that we have today is an outcome of a dialogue. It was broad-based. It was in the end, the inputs of the people of South Africa that resulted in the Constitution that we have now. To have those who want to boycott an overarching national manifestation like what we had when we drafted our Constitution comes as a real shock to me.
Earlier in the 50s, we had another dialogue which resulted in the drafting of the Freedom Charter, the Freedom Charter, which today is the formed the foundation of our Constitution. Freedom Charter was drafted by the people of South Africa. Of course, the then National Party and those who supported apartheid did not participate, but those who wanted to see a better South Africa participated in the drafting of the Freedom Charter and President vandebelen, without dragging you into this matter, I was pleased to hear that the the anti-apartheid movement in Austria strongly opposed apartheid, and that struggle that the anti-apartheid movement in Austria supported was anchored around support for the Freedom Charter, because the Freedom Charter aspirations were, we want democracy in South Africa.
The people themselves must govern. We want the respect for human rights and if the Democratic Party. Team could take advice. It would know that what is going to be discussed at that dialogue is going to be one. What is the human rights situation in South Africa today? Are we adhering to what we set out to do? The national dialogue will be looking at the governance of our country. It will be looking at the economic growth path that we want to adopt. It will be looking at all aspects of South African life, including cultural issues, sports issues, issues that have to do with science, and I can name them all, so that I can wet their appetite, so that their tongues hang out and see that they are going to miss the biggest show in South Africa by defining themselves outside of the national dialogue. What a great pity, what a great pity for a party that says it represents 20 or so percent or 26% of the people of South Africa, they are depriving those that they seek to represent an opportunity to make an input into the future of the country.
I’m not surprised to see former President Thabo Mbeki, having written, I don’t know, a 10-page letter or so about precisely this, because he is also appalled, as many South Africans are appalled at the behavior of the Democratic Alliance, which when we seek to impose good governance against one of their own.
They now turn around and turn against the people of South Africa. It’s the strangest behavior I’ve ever seen. And when they met, we thought that they were going to withdraw from the government of national unity. What do they come with? They come with saying, no, no, no, no, we want to stay in the government of national unity, but we boycotting the people of South Africa. What a contradiction. It makes no sense. So national dialogue will go on. We are not going to turn back.
By allafrica
