JOHANNESBURG - The National Dialogue continues to dominate the headlines after hundreds of delegates wrapped up the first National Convention in Pretoria over the weekend.
The gathering held on Friday and Saturday aimed at bringing together diverse voices sought to begin citizen-led conversations that shape our nation’s future.
But in a hard-hitting editorial written by veteran journalist and City Press editor-in-chief Mondli Makhanya, he cautioned that for the process to gain real traction, it must shed the perception that it is “a Cyril Ramaphosa show.”
Makhanya says Ramaphosa appeared to be on a mission to revive his reputation as one of the "midwives of the Constitution", seeking to also affirm his legacy as the leader who led the nation into "introspection" and while also charting the way forward.
He also questioned Ramaphosa’s opening address, in which the president challenged South Africans to ask themselves difficult questions: "why women live in fear of men, why so many remain in poverty, why opportunities are limited for black children, and why women continue to be paid less than men?"
But Makhanya says Ramaphosa is expected to provide answers to those questions.
He says now is the time Ramaphosa's shifts his "ego" to the side and stop seeing the dialogue as his 'personal legacy project' but rather allow the panel of eminent persons to be the face and eyes of this dialogue.