The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) strongly rejects the outrageous and wasteful plan to spend at least R700 million on a so-called “National Dialogue” while our people are subjected to a brutal cost-of-living crisis, rising unemployment, and collapsing public services.
The preparatory committee for this dialogue, dubbed the National Dialogue Preparatory Task Team, have stated that they will submit a draft budget to the government amounting to hundreds of millions of rands. According to the Task Team, this dialogue is meant to include two national conventions and public engagements, but in truth, it is nothing more than an expensive talk shop with no tangible benefit to the masses of our people.
This comes at a time when we had to fight, tooth and nail, against a Treasury determined to increase Value-Added Tax (VAT), which was going to hit the poor the hardest. South African are also facing an unjustified upcoming increase in the fuel levy, which will drive up the cost of food, transport and general cost of living in an already tough economic climate. Meanwhile, government has refused to adjust personal income tax brackets, punishing low and middle income workers as inflation erodes their earnings.
It is, therefore, an insult to millions of South Africans, who are battling with food insecurity, load shedding, broken healthcare, and unaffordable education, that the same government would entertain wasting close to a billion rand on elite talk shows while failing to deliver basic services. How does a government that is pushing austerity and presenting a budget with deep cuts to spending on crucial issues such as education and healthcare, find money to spend on dialogue?
It is clear that this dialogue is not about nation-building. It is about cronyism, tender manipulation, and providing platforms for failed politicians to rehabilitate themselves under the guise of public consultation. It is a direct attack on public funds and we will not allow it to continue unchecked.
The EFF will demand full transparency and public disclosure of the budget for this dialogue. Furthermore, we are considering legal action to halt this reckless allocation of public funds to a non-essential, unmandated vanity project.
We will not allow the political elite to drain the national fiscus with manufactured consensus-building while South Africans starve. South Africa does not need dialogue, it needs action on job creation, land reform, free education, safety, free public healthcare, and economic growth.
The EFF has organized numerous protests against government policies and corruption.
Hermopolis
Ukraine: You have two cows. One of them feeds on American grass, the other feeds on Russian grass.
Carrot Joker
Fun South African Fact: There are around 3,000 shipwrecks off the coast of South Africa.