The South African Communist Party (SACP) said on Monday its absence from the first National Convention held at the University of South Africa (Unisa) last week, was because the party was excluded and left behind in a process where the government’s key mantra was to “leave no one behind”.

The Government of National Unity (GNU) held the first Convention to the National Dialogue in Pretoria on August 15 and 16.

The SACP explained that it had not reject the invitation to the Convention.

“While some withdrew even before they could be invited and were persuaded by the government to not withdraw, and others withdrew after being invited and forming part of initial preparatory processes, the SACP was excluded altogether,” it said.

The party noted that one of the “many examples of inadequate conception and operation” of the Dialogue was its exclusion from the National Dialogue, pointing out that the processes were marred by questions of lack of inclusivity, which it said led to the apparent legitimacy crisis around the Dialogue itself.

The SACP affirmed the idea of a National Dialogue as a platform for national reflection on the challenges that faced the country such as high poverty, unemployment, inequality and crime.

But it said the National Dialogue’s legitimacy lay in its inclusivity.

It believes that the process needs “re-engineering”.

“The function of the government in a process of this nature is that of offering all the support and coordination needed to facilitate an effective National Dialogue among the citizenry, and not that of an institution that decides the agenda, content, direction and outcomes of the process,” it argued.

It argued that the Dialogue belonged to citizens, to critique government and to call for a policy review.

“To that extent, the diversity of the process and its inclusiveness are key and need not be limited by the overbearing presence of government bureaucratic elements who want to see the outcome reiterate government policy amid its failures for over 30 years to overcome crisis rates of unemployment, poverty and inequality and clamp down on crime and violence, among others,” the SACP said.

It said it would continue to call for a National Dialogue that was based on the popular interests of the working class and the popular masses, and one that was not a tick-box exercise or a process “driven mostly by elitist interests”.

The SACP said it would engage all those involved to ensure that the flawed process was rectified.

While opening the Convention, President Cyril Ramaphosa assured citizens that government would keep the dialogues independent from government interference.

He said Deputy President Paul Mashatile, in his capacity as the National Dialogue Inter-Ministerial Committee leader, stewarded the process for government “from the back”, to allow the process to evolve independently, “without too much government interference”.

Ramaphosa assured that government involvement would amount to logistical and financial support.