Build One South Africa (BOSA) welcomes this evening’s announcement by President Cyril Ramaphosa that a National Dialogue will be convened on 15 August 2025. This is a positive and necessary step forward for our country at a time of great political uncertainty, public anxiety, and economic malaise.
It has been a long-standing call by BOSA for such an inclusive national process. Almost exactly a year ago, on 25 June 2024, we wrote to the President urging the urgent establishment of a National Convention, comprising all 18 Parliamentary Parties, to decide on the purpose, agenda and scope of a new Government of National Unity (GNU).
At the time, the country was gripped by post-election gridlock, as negotiations between parties played out behind closed doors with little regard for transparency or public interest.
We warned then that South Africa deserved better than a patronage-driven power grab. We called instead for an open and democratic process that places the people, not the politicians, at the heart of decision-making.
BOSA remains steadfast in our belief that such a dialogue must be values-based, delivery-focused and rooted in the real needs of all 63 million South Africans. We reiterate the principles we laid out in June 2024, which must underpin the National Dialogue:
- A governance plan focused on:
- Growing a mixed economy that creates jobs
- Fixing Eskom, Transnet and other SOEs
- Eradicating crime and corruption
- Reforming education
- Instilling ethical leadership at all levels
This needs to be undergirded by
- A firm commitment to non-racialism
- Upholding and defending constitutionalism and the rule of law
- Pursuing justice through redress
- Strengthening parliamentary oversight of the executive
We now call on President Ramaphosa to ensure that the 15 August National Dialogue is transparent in its planning and inclusive in its execution. The time for secretive, elite-level dealmaking is over. South Africa’s path forward must be forged in full view of the people, with their aspirations and voices at the centre.
Let this National Dialogue be more than a symbolic gesture. Let it be the moment South Africa begins to build a future that delivers for all.
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