The new reality of coalition politics in South Africa, what we have come to term a Government of National Unity (GNU), raises the challenge of how ready civil society organisations are to hold government accountable. The formation of the GNU and the call for a national dialogue (the Dialogue) has suggested that:

1. Civil society as a whole (notwithstanding a few specialised institutions) is ill-prepared to engage this emergent form of government;
2. There is no unified civil society position/perspectives on a range of critical socio-economic and political issues;
3. Civil society needed to engage the State proactively and not wait to be invited to ‘someone else’s table’, and
4. The Dialogue as proposed is seemingly viewed as a consultation point (and event) rather than a robust, participatory  process to negotiate a unified vision for the country.

In response to this and following conversations with others in the field, ACT Ubumbano convened space to explore how civil society organisations could come together to ‘…support the development and rollout of a civil society-led and managed accountability mechanism or platform focused on the performance of the South African Government (irrespective of form) in addressing the needs of the population…’

This process is experimental and adaptive – there is no pre-conceived design of a mechanism. While some initial design was necessary to begin dialogue, it is expected that the mechanism will be shaped by both contextual needs and the insights provided by participants. Three ‘reference’ groups were convened in February 2025 to gauge CSO interest in the project and to outline a potential project path.  These were convened separately to focus on appropriate community engagement processes that foreground local voice and participation, to look at the viability of an aggregated  data platform and ‘report’, and to explore approaches and tactics to building government accountability in the new political reality.

To some extent the initial convenings were ‘starting from scratch’. While they were limited to a few organisations in order to catalyse a process, more CSOs are expected to participate in the project over time.

A report on the initial convenings will be shared, and new developments as the process unfolds will be communicated via the newsletter and other mediums.