Why the National Convention fell short on path to SA’s political centre

Last week South Africa hosted its inaugural National Convention, as part of the National Dialogue process. For those of us who have long argued for a citizen-led process to rethink and renew our democratic compact, the mere fact of its convening was a modest triumph. The symbolism of President Cyril Ramaphosa’s presence lent the event a measure of legitimacy. The head of state’s endorsement is no small matter in a political environment where similar civil society and faith-based initiatives have often withered due to a lack of coordination and resourcing.

Yet, the real test of democratic renewal is not in symbolic gestures. It is in the design, execution and follow-through of such processes. On those fronts, the convention fell short, for now. 

The promise of dialogue

At its core, the idea of a national dialogue is to bring together diverse voices across society to deliberate on our shared challenges and chart a way forward. Last week’s event managed to gather an impressive range of participants – civil society leaders, business figures, political representatives and ordinary citizens. South Africans showed that there is still an appetite for a collective conversation about the future of the country.

But dialogue is not mere talking. It requires a carefully crafted architecture, a seriousness of content and a level of facilitation that rises above the pedestrian. Here, the gathering faltered. Delays and disruptions plagued the programme, the facilitation often lacked the professionalism demanded by the moment, and the choice of speakers and facilitators seemed more about superficial political choreography than intellectual and technocratic depth. What should have been a laboratory of visionary ideas resembled a pageant of miniature personal speeches.

Why design matters

If one overlays this experience onto the model below, of participative democracy (see diagram), the weaknesses become clear. At present, our political process remains trapped in the top-down, centralised quadrant – dominated by state institutions, government authority and legal frameworks. This is necessary, but not sufficient. 

Such institutions provide order and continuity, but they are vulnerable to capture and vested interests, as South Africans know all too well. 

The national dialogue is meant to be a centre-out process: an effort to radiate participation beyond government, enabling citizens to reclaim agency. 

Yet the execution left participants oscillating between symbolism and superficiality. Without moving deliberately through the four quadrants of participatory democracy, the President’s broad-tent risks replicating the same narrow, precarious forms of legitimacy that are already failing us.

Moving through the quadrants

To construct enduring political legitimacy, South Africa must do the hard work of traversing all four domains of democratic life, in their rightful order: 

1. Institutions of community and social networks (bottom-up, decentralised): Local organisations, cooperatives, faith networks and digital communities are where legitimacy begins. These groups carry the lived experience of citizens. Unless they are systematically included, dialogue remains elite-driven and exclusionary;
2. Institutions of collective organisation (bottom-up, centralised): Political parties, unions, media and civil society forums aggregate citizen voices into national platforms. This is where local grievances become national issues, and where social contracts begin to take shape;
3. Institutions of belonging (top-down, decentralised): Simultaneously, traditional authorities and professional associations, though often hierarchical, give communities identity and voice. Ignoring them creates blind spots in representation; and
4. Institutions of command (top-down, centralised): In the end, and only then, the state, judiciary and security services must anchor whatever compact emerges. They hold the instruments of law and enforcement that can translate consensus into binding outcomes.

A national dialogue that fails to move between and across these quadrants will remain lopsided – either a state-driven project lacking legitimacy, or a citizen-driven project lacking authority.

The centre as destination

The purpose of this exercise is not dialogue for its own sake. It is to arrive at the political centre – that fragile space where legitimacy is forged through the balance of bottom-up energy, decentralised networks and centralised organisation, to arrive at top-down authority as an expression of the public will, not narrow and vested interests. 

In this centre lies the possibility of an actionable social compact: a binding agreement among South Africans about the priorities we must pursue and the responsibilities each sector must shoulder. Nelson Mandela called for a “RDP of the heart”. What we now need is a social compact of the heart and hands, not driven by the state of government, but anchored in the activation of citizens, who hold their state and government officials accountable. 

This week’s inaugural dialogue showed both the possibilities and pitfalls of the journey. The presence of the President and the gathering of diverse actors demonstrated potential. But the shallow facilitation, the delays and the lack of robust content revealed how easily such processes can slip into hollow and preformist ritual.

If we are serious about democratic renewal, we must now treat design as destiny. That means professional facilitation, credible agenda-setting and a disciplined commitment to inclusivity. It means moving deliberately through the quadrants of participatory democracy, ensuring that no voice is excluded and no sector is dominant. And it means recognising that legitimacy is not gifted by the head of state alone – legitimacy must be earned through a process that is transparent, citizen-led and action-oriented.

A drum beat

South Africa does not lack dialogue. We lack effective dialogue that can deliver actionable outcomes. The inaugural National Convention has given us a starting point. The task now is to create a drum beat of engagement that can turn that starting point into a national renewal project.

Legitimacy in a participative democracy is not found at the extremes of command or protest. It is found at the centre – painstakingly constructed through engagement, inclusion and shared sacrifice. Our challenge, and our opportunity, is to make this inaugural step the first movement in a dance that takes us towards that centre. DM