The South African Friends of Israel (SAFI) vociferously rejects the absence of evangelical representation on the eminent persons panel of Ramaphosa’s R700 million National Dialogue talkshop.
“Despite Ramaphosa claiming that the National Dialogue must be citizen-led and devoid of partisanship, it is perplexing that the list of eminent persons, the group of prominent and respected South African leaders handpicked to be the voices of the nation during this exercise, lacks any evangelical leadership, such as Pastor Bert Pretorius, a founder of the South African Community of Faith-Based Fraternals and Federations, which represents over 19 900 churches or 50% of South Africa’s Christian population,” says Daniel Jacobi, Executive Director at the South African Friends of Israel.
This exclusion naturally casts doubt about the Dialogue’s inclusivity, intent and credibility. It suggests, like many other talkshops in the past, that it is another smokescreen to cover up for a variety of government service delivery failures. With this in mind, there is less doubt that the National Dialogue is an ANC ploy to soft launch their local government elections campaign.
Jacobi added that “If the National Dialogue is supposed to be a mechanism that fosters national unity to forge a new common agenda, the exclusion of evangelical bodies, such as churches, will gravely undermine that goal. Faith-based organisations played an instrumental role in the fight against Apartheid and the road to reconciliation when South Africa transitioned to a democracy.”
“Religion in South Africa can be a platform to unite a divided country, but omission of evangelical leadership in the National Dialogue can be seen as nothing less than a deliberate attempt to drive particular partisan interests.”
South Africans have already expressed their views through a different national dialogue; the 2024 elections, now embodied through the broad church Government of National Unity. It is long overdue for government leaders to shift toward action and delivery, rather than further consultation exercises.
“A dialogue is last on the wish list of all South Africans. With 32.9 per cent unemployment, increasing costs of living, crumbling roads, water and electricity outages, South Africans are not in the mood to be hoodwinked by a National Dialogue purported to be an antidote to all our challenges,” clarified Jacobi.
“President Ramaphosa and the rest of the GNU must get on with the job and start implementing the visions, plans and promises already articulated so many times before. It is time for government leaders to cease distracting South Africans with symbolic events and instead fulfill the mandate given to them by the electorate,” Jacobi concluded.
