From Esterhof to SA to the world — young voices offer a compelling counterpoint to National Dialogue

This year, South Africa has embarked on a bold and complex journey of national reflection. In June, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced a nationwide “National Dialogue of South Africa”, described as a people-led, society-wide process intended to bring together all walks of life to reflect on the state of our country and to imagine its future.

The ambition: to forge a shared vision, a new national ethos and common value system, and a social compact driving progress to 2030.

Yet the process also carries many questions: Will it yield concrete change? Will the voices of ordinary young people be heard? Critics argue that the process risks being symbolic rather than substantive.

Meanwhile, in the small community of Esterhof near Riebeek Kasteel in the Swartland, 15 young people aged 18 to 22 have been engaging in their own micro-dialogue. Facilitated through the Goedgedacht Trust’s Critical Consciousness Programme, they met weekly for two-hour sessions with the trust’s managing director, myself, to reflect deeply on three horizons: their neighbourhood (Esterhof), their country (South Africa) and the world. What they produced is not only compelling, it offers a grounded counterpoint to the lofty national discussions.

Esterhof: reimagining the neighbourhood

The first of the youth reflections asks: “What is required for Esterhof to become the best place in the world to live?”

The young writers draw on childhood memories of writing down dreams on paper, of seeing around them a world that “didn’t have to be that way”. They imagine a community where dignity, fairness and love define relationships; not buildings or money alone.

They identify racism – overt and covert – as a wound that still haunts the everyday: “Sometimes it’s hidden in the way people talk, in the jobs that are offered to some but not to others, or in how we still see ‘them’ and ‘us’.”

Their vision is bold:

“Imagine a place where children play together without thinking of colour… where difference is celebrated, not feared.”

The emphasis is not just on infrastructure but on mindsets: “We have to replace fear with understanding, judgement with empathy, and anger with love.”

What is especially striking is their insistence on agency: not waiting for external donors, but each person taking responsibility: “Each of us must take responsibility for shaping it. Real change starts in our own hearts.”

In a national context that often reduces neighbourhoods like Esterhof to project sites or deficits, this reflection subverts the narrative: the young people are not passive recipients of development – they are active imaginer-builders of their community.

For Esterhof, the practical matters are present – clean streets, safe spaces, equal opportunities – but the deeper call is about belonging, recognition and relational dignity. In that sense, their reflection becomes a blueprint for social healing, not just service delivery.

South Africa: youth demands and national dreams

Their second reflection turns outward: “What South Africa needs to be a better place for young people to live in.”

Here the young writers do not shy away from hard truths: high unemployment, unfair wages, signalling of corruption, exclusion of foreign-born workers, youth frustration. Their language is both grounded and unapologetic:

“We work hard… all for wages that can’t even cover rent and food.”

Their eight priority areas articulate a composite young person’s manifesto:

1. Leaders who care – honest, accountable, rooted in lived experience;

2. Work that pays properly – respect, safe conditions, real pathways;

3. One set of rules for everyone – fairness regardless of nationality or status;

4. Use what we have, right here at home – local value-creation, cooperatives, rural enterprise;

5. Health that works for the people – respect, mental health awareness, dignity in service;

6. Fix what’s broken – infrastructure as jobs, local maintenance, transport reliability;

7. Education that leads somewhere – clear routes from school to livelihood, not dead ends; and

8. Bring back Ubuntu – communities rooted in mutual care, not isolation or suspicion.

In a national moment where South Africa is asking itself “who are we now?” the young people of Esterhof are declaring who they want to be. Their reflection becomes a mirror to the National Dialogue: if the National Dialogue seeks a “common vision” and new “national ethos”, then these young people are offering one from the grassroots up.

They don’t wait for Parliament or parties. They start small:

“Start a local jobs and skills group… create a small project that adds value to what we already grow here… set up volunteers at the clinic or reading programmes at the school.” This sense of incremental, actionable hope contrasts with many national conversations that fixate on grand policy but struggle with implementation.

The world we dream of: from pools not walls

Finally, the group lifts its gaze to global horizons: “The world we dream of.” In their third reflection, they imagine a world shaped not by competition or fear, but by connection, belonging and mutual care. The metaphor they use is telling: “Build pools, not walls.” A pool is a space of life, cooling refreshment, rest and collective joy. A wall separates, excludes, confines.

They argue:

“The water in the pool is also like healing. It washes away pain and anger.” In this vision, schools are places children love; teachers listen; no one is lonely; no one is left out. They imagine a global human family:

“Whether you are from Barcelona or Esterhof, from Africa or somewhere far away, you are part of the same human family.”

They call for solutions rather than mere rhetoric: “The world won’t get better if everyone just stands by and says ‘I don’t know’.” They choose action, repair and community.

In the broader National Dialogue context, this reflection offers a reminder that globalisation is more than economics – it is relational: what kind of world do we build together? For South Africa, which is grappling with its place in the world, youth migration, climate change and global bonds, their reflections are significant.

Why this matters: local voices, national relevance

What makes the Esterhof process important is that it exemplifies what true dialogue looks like when grounded in lived experience, future-oriented hope and real agency. The National Dialogue in South Africa is vital. It carries high stakes. But it also struggles with legitimacy, with perceptions of elite capture, cost concerns and questions of follow-through.

By contrast, the Esterhof series of reflections reminds us:

• Young people don’t just want to be heard, they want to create;
• Dialogue isn’t only about words, it’s about turning vision into neighbourhood walks, jobs, conversations and change; and
• Scale matters, but so does rootedness: what a community of 15 young people can imagine may speak more loudly than many large panels.

If the National Dialogue is to succeed, it must connect with places like Esterhof – listen to the young people, pull in their plans, respect their agency and embed their visions in the national compact.

Looking forward

For Esterhof, the next step is not only reflection but realisation. The young people know the work continues: changing mindsets, building relationships across lines and making sure that roads, safe clinics and meaningful work become realities. Their reflections are no longer archival, they’re a call to action.

For South Africa, the National Dialogue must open itself to more than symbolic statements. It must embed mechanisms for young voices, local action and community-led value creation. It must recognise that a “shared vision” includes not only economic growth but relational dignity, the repair of hearts and systems.

And for the world, this small community’s reflections speak of hope: hope where difference is not a liability but a possibility; where neighbours are not strangers; where pools are built, not walls.

In the final words of the young group:

“A world that feels like home. A world where no one says, ‘I don’t know how to make a pool’, but where everyone says, ‘Let’s build it – together’.”

May the National Dialogue of South Africa hear voices like those from Esterhof – may it mirror them, may it scale them, may it act together with them. Because if the future is to be built, it must be built not only for young people, but with them. DM

Dr Deon Snyman is a theologian and social justice leader with a PhD in theology and an MPhil in justice and transformation. He serves as managing director of the Goedgedacht Trust, leading its mission to build thriving rural communities in the Swartland Municipality.