Last week’s announcement of a “National Dialogue” and an eminent persons group to “champion” it by South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, ostensibly to put the country back on track by “confronting its challenges”, excludes the wider defence and security sector.
On defence, the SA National Defence Force (SANDF) faces a triple challenge – finance and personnel as well as ageing equipment. The country’s security and law enforcement entities – the SANDF, South African Police Service, and Border Management Authority – face a range of security issues from porous borders to crime and conflict.
One who is doubtful about whether the “National Dialogue” will even see defence and security on the agenda is Helmoed Heitman. The long-time defence and military analyst with, among others, close involvement in the 2012 Defence Review and its updating three years later, told defenceWeb “no one in government cares about defence and, given how they have treated the police, I suppose no one cares about them either”.
He sums up South Africa’s seventh administration and the second under Ramaphosa – this time around as a GNU (Government of National Unity), the country’s second since 1994 – as one which “clearly doesn’t care about the people in the first place”.
The only name on the Ramaphosa eminent persons’ list with defence knowledge is Roelf Meyer. He did a two-year stint as defence minister starting in 1992, and was then Defence and Military Veterans Minister Lindiwe Sisulu’s choice to head up the 2012 Defence Review. His career is now centred around politics, negotiation and business.
With no depth in defence and security among Ramaphosa’s eminent persons, Heitman took a wider look telling defenceWeb he sees only three people with business experience and none with small business experience – businesses that create employment.
“That,” he said, “is major weakness. A country sinks or swims on the back of its economy and our economy is on a downhill slide. Add to that youth unemployment is arguably the biggest security challenge we face. Similarly, is there anyone there who understands the realities of foreign trade and the trading partners our economy depends on – not Russia, Iran or Cuba, they are irrelevant and not China, with a negative trade balance and imports almost only raw materials from South Africa”.
The absence of policing experience, according to Heitman, “is a clear gap given the crime situation and the state of the police and that they are under-strength for the size of the country and its population”.
Pulling these observations together he asks “who is there in the [eminent persons] group who understands international relations, geopolitics, geostrategy, et al?”
In summary he has it the eminent persons are “all nice people who care about the country and I am equally sure none of them are stupid, but where is the expertise in critical areas? They are probably well chosen to address socio-economic and racial tensions – the problems created by government and weird parties on the far left fringe”.
Overall, his lasting impression is the eminent persons group reminds him of what is called “a self-licking ice cream cone” – a self-perpetuating system that has no purpose other than to sustain itself.
The National Dialogue will open with the first of two National Conventions on 15 August 2025. This will be followed by discussions across the country in various sectors and on issues that citizens feel deserve national attention. A second convention will be scheduled for some time next year. The conventions will address issues such as poverty, unemployment, inequality, crime, gender-based violence, and corruption.
“It is anticipated that the National Dialogue will drive progress towards our Vision 2030 and lay the foundation for the next phase of South Africa’s National Development Plan,” Ramaphosa said.
The president has assembled an Eminent Persons Group of 31 members to “guide and champion the National Dialogue”. It contains celebrities, sportspeople, religious leaders, artists, unionists, activists, retired politicians and officials, and businesspeople.
Columnist Ivo Vegter wrote that if he were to assemble an Eminent Persons Group to address South Africa’s challenges, he would start with people who have spent their lives thinking about this sort of thing. “I’d invite the heads of a dozen think tanks; half a dozen economists, split evenly between working economists and academics; a few political scientists; several engineering-adjacent infrastructure specialists; an expert or two on local government and public administration; an organisational efficiency expert or auditor; and some retired judges, prosecutors, and advocates.”
Members of the Eminent Persons Group are:
• Dr Brigalia Bam, former Independent Electoral Commission Chairperson,
• Mr Robbie Brozin, entrepreneur and business person,
• Judge Edwin Cameron, former Constitutional Court judge,
• Mr Manne Dipico, former Northern Cape Premier,
• Dr Desiree Ellis, Banyana Banyana coach,
• Ms Ela Gandhi, peace activist,
• Prof Nomboniso Gasa, researcher and rural activist,
• Mr Bobby Godsell, business leader,
• Dr John Kani, actor,
• Mr Siya Kolisi, Springbok captain,
• Ms Mia le Roux, Miss South Africa 2024,
• His Grace Bishop Barnabas Lekganyane, leader of the Zion Christian Church,
• His Grace Bishop Engenas Lekganyane, leader of the St Engenas Zion Christian Church,
• The Most Reverend Thabo Makgoba, Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town,
• Prof Tinyiko Maluleke, Chairperson of the National Planning Commission,
• Dr Barbara Masekela, poet, educator and stalwart,
• Ms Lindiwe Mazibuko, former Member of Parliament,
• Mr Roelf Meyer, former Minister and constitutional negotiator,
• Ms Gcina Mhlope, storyteller, writer and actor,
• Ms Nompendulo Mkhatshwa, student activist and former Member of Parliament,
• Ms Kgothatso Montjane, Grand Slam tennis champion,
• Prof Harry Ranwedzi Nengwekhulu, former activist and educationist,
• Mr Bheki Ntshalintshali, unionist and former COSATU General Secretary,
• Hosi Phylia Nwamitwa, traditional leader,
• Kgosi Thabo Seatlholo, chairperson of the National House of Traditional and Khoi-San Leaders,
• Dr Gloria Serobe, business leader,
• Dr Imtiaz Sooliman, founder of the Gift of the Givers,
• Prof Derrick Swartz, academic,
• Ms Lorato Trok, author and early literacy expert,
• Mr Sibusiso Vilane, mountaineer and adventurer,
• Mr Siyabulela Xuza, rocket scientist.
A Steering Committee, comprised of representatives of various sectors of society, will be established to set strategic priorities and coordinate implementation of the National Dialogue process.
