ActionSA launches public engagement platform ahead of inaugural Policy Conference
11 May 2023
ActionSA has today launched its online public engagement platform calling on all South Africans to contribute their thoughts on how to fix South Africa, ahead of our inaugural Policy Conference in September.
ActionSA was born out of the People’s Dialogue, a wide-scale public engagement process that saw us consult with millions of South Africans ahead of our launch as a political party. This process affirmed broad support for the seven values and guiding principles on which ActionSA is based and, together with inputs from experts, helped shape our initial policy suite adopted in 2020.
As we approach the watershed 2024 elections, we want to ensure that we can put forward a credible, solutions-based offering that will inspire hope in South Africans. Consultation and engagement remain part of our DNA, so we want to give all South Africans the opportunity to get involved in shaping the plans needed to fix South Africa.
We have taken this approach because we believe that the solutions to fix South Africa will not come from politicians, but from those South Africans who work to overcome our greatest challenges on a daily basis. We also believe that plans and policies are only part of the picture: implementation remains the most important driver of change. By listening to South Africans’ real-world experience, we are ensuring that our plans will be aligned with our implementation capacity, rather than just another suite of documents that amount to not much more than a policy wish list.
The process we are launching today will see us engage with South Africans over the coming months around the 11 policy areas we will be addressing at our inaugural Policy Conference. This includes:
Economic Prosperity
Energy Security
Economic Justice
Corruption
Law and Order
Education
Healthcare
Public Service
Foreign Policy
Climate & Environment
Rural Development & Traditional Affairs
Starting with the topic of Economic Prosperity, we are calling on all South Africans – whether they are an academic expert, a healthcare provider, teacher, law enforcement officer, business owner, or any one of the countless individuals who have demonstrated their ingenuity in dealing with our many challenges – to engage around these 11 topics and share their ideas about how we can fix South Africa together.
Submissions to the online platform will be accompanied by events in all nine provinces over the coming months to engage South Africans about our policy offering. These will run in parallel to our extensive internal engagement processes, as well as a series of expert-led panel discussions.
The process will culminate with the Policy Conference from 12 to 14 September, where our final offering to the people of South African will be adopted.
South Africans are not only hungry for change, they are hungry for a solutions-based alternative to the failed political establishment. Together with the inputs of those who deal with our most pressing challenges on a daily basis – including load shedding, crime and joblessness – we believe that ActionSA will provide that alternative. Together, we can fix South Africa.
Issued by Herman Mashaba, ActionSA President, 11 May 2023
