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Civil society organisations are invited to attend a conference to build a broad front against state capture.

The Conference for the Future of South Africa takes place from 08h00 on Mandela Day (18 July 2017) at Rhema Bible Church in Randburg.

Organisations interested in attending can email their details to shaheda@kathradafoundation.org and registration procedures will be communicated. The conference is open to any civil society organisation – including community based groups – that is opposed to state capture.

The conference is being hosted by the Ahmed Kathrada Foundation and Save South Africa, and follows several consultative meetings with civil society formations in Gauteng.

The conference will include a session providing an overview of state capture, as well as briefings by various sectors of society around the work done in different spheres to address the issue. The conference will see ‘heroes against state capture’ being acknowledged, as well as brainstorming sessions around building state integrity and developing campaign ideas to mobilise ordinary South Africans to take action.

Resolutions, a declaration and programme of action are expected to be adopted at the end of the conference.

Save South Africa convenor Sipho Pityana said, “The conference will create a platform for civil society to deliberate how - without political affiliation – the people can put the country back on the path envisioned by the Constitution. The hashtag for the conference – #OperationRecapture - is very apt as we believe that it is ordinary South Africans who have the power to take back the state.”

His views were echoed by Neeshan Balton, Executive Director of the Ahmed Kathrada Foundation. “We have invited Members of Parliament to attend the conference as observers to listen to what ordinary South Africans from various sectors want them to do to change the trajectory of the country, leading up to the parliamentary vote of no confidence in President Jacob Zuma in August.

We have only to look back at our liberation struggle to understand the power that ordinary people can wield through collective efforts. It is through united effort that we can stop state capture and bring the culprits to book.”

Issued the Ahmed Kathrada Foundation and Save South Africa.