ActionSA leader Herman Mashaba has called for a stop to the National Dialogue announced earlier this week by President Cyril Ramaphosa.
In a statement on Friday 13 June, Mashaba claimed the Dialogue is currently budgeted at around R750 million , without providing evidence.
Ramaphosa announced that he would convene a National Convention on 15 August which will be followed by the Dialogue at various levels over several months.
He will then convene a second National Convention early next year which will reinforce our shared values and adopt a common vision and programme of action for our country into the future.
Herman Mashaba dismisses National DialogueHowever, Mashaba believes the Dialogue will be another burden on an already stretched fiscus and a carefully choregraphed process to fool South Africans yet again.
We call for a stop to the proposed National Dialogue and, in the place of it, the development of robust economic policies and an investment in strengthening the criminal justice system, especially the NPA National Prosecuting Authority that has become a weak link under Advocate Shamila Batohi, to complete the unfinished business of the Zondo Commission on state capture, he added.
He vowed that if the Dialogue goes ahead, ActionSA would scrutinise every rand spent on it.
We will demand full transparency on how the funds are allocated, which service providers are appointed and whether ordinary South Africans fully benefit, or whether this gets used as another Trojan Horse to benefit politically connected middlemen who have no value to add, he said.
Former President Thabo Mbeki called for the Dialogue last year, with Ramaphosa heeding his call soon afterwards.
Mashaba also proposed a similar initiative in May focusing on economic transformation - but within the framework of Parliament.