Zuma announces national dialogue on Freedom Day

President Jacob Zuma used this year’s national Freedom Day celebration to promote his message of national unity and reconciliation in both word and deed. Not only did he repeatedly harp on this theme in his keynote address at the Freedom Day festivities at the Union Buildings in Pretoria, but in an unprecedented reconciliatory move also invited national leaders of all the opposition parties in parliament to share the stage with him and address the large crowd.

Some national political leaders, however, in stark contrasting political campaigning style, chose to address their own rallies. Representatives of these parties were sent instead to Pretoria.

Taking his presidential theme of national unity, reconciliation and cohesion – initiated at his inauguration a year ago – to the next level, Zuma announced that a national dialogue involving all South Africans would be launched soon. The theme of discussions is to be “true values that underpin our common identity and destiny”.

It will be aimed at arriving at a common perspective around hitherto divisive issues such as geographical name changes, sport transformation, transformation in the workplace (affirmative action and black economic empowerment), songs being sung (most likely a veiled reference to Julius Malema), symbols used, language policy in schools and universities, cultural practices such as the slaughtering of animals, and others.

Zuma said this dialogue will breathe new life into nation-building and will capture the attention of all South Africans in a way similar to the 2010 Fifa Soccer World Cup.

The national leaders of the Democratic Alliance (DA) and Independent Democrats (ID), Helen Zille and Patricia de Lille respectively, addressed a joint rally of their own parties at Constitution Hill in Johannesburg, while Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi and Congress of the People (Cope) president Mosiuoa Lekota addressed separate meetings of their parties in Vryheid, KwaZulu-Natal and Tembisa, Gauteng respectively. These leaders sent representatives to the main celebration in Pretoria.

The main Freedom Day meeting addressed by Zuma at the Union Buildings was marked by his emphasis on national unity and reconciliation, symbolised by the presence on the stage of leaders of the opposition parties, and the absence of party political rhetoric.

The DA/ID meeting starkly contrasted with this, in that it had all the appearances of a party political rally and was used to promote the political realignment initiative of several opposition parties to forge a united opposition front or alliance.

While opposition unity is much needed to keep the ANC government on its toes and offer the voters a viable alternative to the ANC, the celebration of the nation's national day was perhaps not the right occasion for such partisan campaigning.

While Buthelezi, like Zille, used the occasion of his own party’s rally to urge voters to show their displeasure at the high levels of corruption in government, Zille went a step further and launched yet another personal attack on Zuma over the issue. Perhaps a golden opportunity for greater reconciliation and forging closer co-operation between the government and the opposition on issues of national importance was lost there.

A plus for Zuma is that, despite Zille's frequent attacks on him personally on issues such as corruption, undermining the Constitution and HIV/Aids, he has never retaliated in kind.

Some commentators immediately warned that the dialogue will not succeed in achieving its aims if it is allowed to be hijacked by partisan factions or interest groups. They point out that that is what occurred with a stakeholders dialogue about a year ago on the issue of violent crime on farms. It was dominated largely by Cosatu and non-governmental organisations representing farm workers to the exclusion of commercial farmers. That dialogue achieved very little, if anything.

In another very commendable move, President Zuma repeated at the Union Buildings what he had told a meeting of senior public service managers a few days earlier, namely that the government had to improve and speed up delivery and could no longer blame its failures on apartheid. The all-too-easy option of blaming failures on apartheid and playing the race card whenever things did not go the ANC’s way, has become a highly divisive and alienating factor for many South Africans.

The issue of housing and human settlements also received special attention. While the Group Areas Act has disappeared off the statute books, its effects are still felt, the president said.

While the government is on target regarding the delivery of new houses, housing should not be seen in isolation, and a new human settlements model must be entrenched. To this end, Zuma announced that he had convened a special Presidential Co-ordinating Council meeting on 18 May to discuss with all nine provincial premiers the need for habitable human settlements throughout the country.

Toward the end of his speech, in reference to the upcoming Soccer World Cup, he urged South Africans to “show the world that we are one nation, united in our colourful diversity”.

This was vintage Zuma, the president at his charismatic and charming best. It has been seen many times before, and critics may rightly say that previous promises or initiatives came to naught.

However, the reconciliation, unity and nation-building theme – which Zuma adopted at the beginning of his presidency as a kind of self-proclaimed successor to Nelson Mandela on that score – has come some distance. The national dialogue, of which more details are to be announced once the initial consultation phase has been completed, is giving concrete expression to the slogans and speeches.