Starting Friday, South Africa will hold a “national dialogue” aimed at uniting all sectors of society to address the nation’s most urgent problems and work toward lasting solutions.
Proposed by President Cyril Ramaphosa following pleas from civil society, the talks are set to feature a wide range of participants, from several political parties and civic organizations to everyday citizens.
While the idea has been welcomed and accepted by some, concerns have emerged over its estimated budget $40 million, alongside doubts about whether the discussions will bring any meaningful change and development.
More than three decades after the fall of apartheid’s white minority rule, South Africa continues to suffer with severe poverty and inequality, regular crime, corruption, and an unemployment rate exceeding 30%, among the highest in the world.
The nation is no stranger to such gatherings, having previously engaged in historic multiparty negotiations that made the way for a peaceful end to apartheid in the early 1990s.
