Thabo Mbeki Foundation not ruling out National Dialogue return after withdrawing from National Convention

CAPE TOWN - The Thabo Mbeki Foundation is not ruling out returning to the National Dialogue after pulling out last week, along with several other legacy foundations.

Chairperson Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi reiterated on Monday that the foundation’s withdrawal was over what it felt was a lack of preparation for the National Convention, which was held over the weekend.

The foundation is of the view that the precursor event needed to have a more solid basis from which civil society could interact and engage.

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The withdrawal of at least seven legacy foundations from the National Convention raised questions about the legitimacy of the National Dialogue process. 

The Thabo Mbeki Foundation wanted discussion documents to be drafted beforehand to give attendees a basis for debate and discussion. 

Fraser-Moleketi said that eleven reports on various topics were being prepared when the date for the convention was set by another grouping outside of the preparatory task team.

"The amount of work you put into the process, the pre-dialogue, results in the quality of the outcome, and especially dealing with the complexities we currently confront in South Africa."

But she said that a withdrawal from the convention did not mean the foundation would boycott the dialogue process entirely.

"It’s never too late. Being the progenitors, we had not withdrawn from the National Dialogue. What we withdrew from was the National Convention, which we said should be given a bit more time."

The foundation said it was concerned about the inclusivity of the process if preparations for the convention had not been thorough enough.