The EFF categorically rejects the grotesque and wasteful plan by the so-called National Dialogue Preparatory Task Team to spend R700m on what they are calling a “national dialogue” because we know that it has no bearing on the lives of ordinary South Africans. In a country ravaged by poverty, joblessness and a collapsing public infrastructure , it is not only irresponsible but deeply immoral to even contemplate such an exorbitant budget for what is essentially a talk shop for elites. The timing of this announcement is also indicative of an uncaring government that is out of touch with the majority of its citizens.
The proposed dialogue with an inordinate price tag is said to involve only two national conventions and an unspecified number of public engagements. The entire project reeks of cronyism and self-enrichment, deceptively packaged in the language of nation-building in an attempt to fool the public. But the EFF recognises this for the farce that it is. Dialogues do not cost R700m. What we are witnessing is the return of the very same gravy train that stripped this country and its people of dignity and robbed deserving South Africans of an opportunity to progress out of poverty. The difference is that now it is dressed up in what is being sold as a democratic consultation. Not on our watch!
This absurd plan is being tabled as our country is buckling under the weight of an unforgiving cost-of-living crisis. We have just emerged from a battle with the Treasury over its callous and illegal attempt to increase VAT by a staggering 2% when the national budget was initially presented. It was a move that would have hit the poor and working class the hardest, but failed because the EFF fought for the people and justice prevailed. However, on the horizon looms a fuel levy increase, which will undoubtedly lead to an increase in the price of food, transport and essential goods. This again will hit the poor the hardest, solely because we are led by a government that has made it its mission to cushion the elite while exploiting the poor.
Yet in these trying times the same government wants to allocate almost a billion rand for a dialogue. A dialogue with no defined outcomes, no constitutional mandate and no meaningful connection to the urgent crises our people face. This is the epitome of tone-deaf. It is a slap in the face to millions of South Africans who go to bed hungry, study in dilapidated schools, queue at under-resourced clinics and live in constant fear of crime in communities where police are severely understaffed. The government of Ramaphosa and his GNU can fund a dialogue but cannot implement solutions that will improve the lives of our people.
The EFF supports genuine efforts at public engagement and democratic consultation, but the government is clearly not serious about public involvement because if it were, it would invest that money into capacitating local clinics and building schools, so our children are given a quality decolonised education at all levels irrespective of their backgrounds. A caring government would focus on rebuilding our ailing infrastructure and resuscitating closed factories and industries as suggested by the EFF, because that would lead to a working economy that can absorb young people who are jobless.
This R700m dialogue proposal is nothing but a vanity project of this failing government. It is looting of public funds. It is a national parade of misaligned government programmes
Only an ANC government that is aloof with its DA partners can think democracy can be reduced to conferences in Sandton that will entail inflated invoices and no consequences. The EFF does not share those sentiments because we know our people face more pressing needs. Our people need jobs, and they need them now. Our people need quality health care and safety in their communities. Our people need bold action and a country that prioritises the redistribution of wealth and land without compensation. They need action on load-shedding and infrastructure collapse, not panel discussions on theoretical unity.
This R700m dialogue proposal is nothing but a vanity project of this failing government. It is looting of public funds. It is a national parade of misaligned government programmes. Inflating prices for a dialogue while failing to employ doctors or pay educators. It is further enrichment for the elite and their networks who will benefit through tenders and consultancy fees. The near billion-rand price tag is an insult to struggling South Africans and our unemployed youth.
The EFF demands full public disclosure of the dialogue budget, line by line. We will not allow this to happen behind closed doors while our people starve. The EFF is exploring legal options to challenge this wasteful expenditure and to prevent it from proceeding. We are also calling on civil society, labour unions, and all patriotic South Africans to reject this abuse of public funds.
The EFF will continue to fight for economic justice, for an end to wasteful expenditure, and for a government that places the interests of the poor and marginalised at the centre of its agenda. This country does not need a dialogue as we all already know what our problems are. We need implementation. We need jobs, land, housing, education, health care and safety. We need a government that works for the people, not one that hosts conferences to congratulate itself while the country burns.
The EFF rejects the R700m scam with the contempt it deserves. It must be stopped.
Malema is the CIC and president of the EFF
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