Mayibuye reopens the space for imagining a different future — together

In recent weeks, the Mayibuye Consultation Process has unsettled many, intrigued a few, and been misunderstood by most.

While social media has lit up with accusations, dismissals, and conspiracy theories, what’s been missing is a sober, grounded reflection on what Mayibuye is trying to do — and what it reveals about us.

We’ve spent the last 30 years calling for something different. But when difference begins to take shape outside the walls of mainstream parties, our default reaction is suspicion.

Instead of asking why people are organising, we ask who they used to belong to.

Instead of listening to what’s being said in community halls across the country, we focus on who didn’t get a press release.

In doing so, we risk missing something profoundly important.

The Mayibuye Consultation Process is not a coup or a rebellion — it is a legitimate expression of SA’s democratic framework.

Section 18 of the constitution guarantees everyone the right to freedom of association, including the right to form political parties, movements, and platforms.

Yet those exercising this right through Mayibuye are being labelled sell-outs, opportunists, or worse.

When former members of the ANC, EFF, MKP, or other parties participate in the process, they are not committing treason.

They are doing what democracy demands: re-evaluating and reorganising in response to a changing political climate.

To critique them solely on the basis of where they come from is to ignore the far more important question: where are they trying to go?

The bottom-up methodology of the Mayibuye Consultation Process deserves serious attention, not because it’s perfect, but because it’s rare.

We celebrate participatory democracy in theory, but when it shows up in our own backyards — unpolished, messy, led by the people — we meet it with suspicion instead of study.

Perhaps if this process were unfolding in a university lecture hall or global think tank, it would already be the subject of policy reviews and               .

Instead, because it’s happening in community halls and village fields, it’s being overlooked by those who should know better.

Mayibuye doesn’t need blind loyalty. But it does deserve to be looked at without the filter of political prejudice.

People are showing up. Not just online, but in person — from varsities, churches, townships, and rural outposts where political participation is often reduced to poster-waving during election season.

Mayibuye’s gatherings have drawn hundreds in places where political conversations are usually one-way.

And yet, critics brush past the presence of these people and fixate instead on who is convening the process.

This selective blindness is dangerous. It reduces citizens to spectators and reinforces the idea that real politics only happens in parliament or party headquarters.

Mayibuye offers a reversal of that logic: a reminder that power can — and should — begin with the people.

Mayibuye also holds a unique opportunity: to cultivate a culture where those coming from other political formations are not judged, but supported in reimagining what it means to lead with lived experience.

This isn’t about recycling tired politics — it’s about helping people evolve into what SA needs now.

When former members of mainstream parties enter the process with humility, ready to listen and grow, they help demonstrate that political renewal isn’t only about replacing individuals. It’s about shifting how we think, relate, and respond to the realities on the ground.

At the same time, those who come from established political parties should not use the Mayibuye Consultation Process as a stepping ladder or a new arena for continued factionalism.

It should not a space for personal advancement at the expense of the collective.

It should be a space of reflective learning — where past mistakes inform new strategies and where leadership is earned through service, not status.

Any political project that overlooks this wisdom in favour of elitist credentials is doomed to repeat the same cycles

Most importantly, this process must recognise that citizens are not just voters or supporters — they carry the insight of what has worked, what has failed, and what must change.

Any political project that overlooks this wisdom in favour of elitist credentials is doomed to repeat the same cycles.

It’s also worth naming a growing hypocrisy. Many of those critiquing Mayibuye do so while wearing their party colours — loyal to formations that have governed, faltered, and regrouped without delivering the transformation they once promised.

Somehow, they claim the full breadth of constitutional rights for themselves, while casting suspicion on others who exercise those same rights differently.

Democracy cannot be conditional. You can’t defend freedom of association for your party and weaponise it against others. That is not democracy. That is gatekeeping.

To the leaders of Mayibuye, this moment calls for discipline.

The temptation to explain “why you left” must be resisted. Not because those stories don’t matter — but because they risk overshadowing what’s at stake.

It would be foolish to romanticise Mayibuye. The dangers of co-option, ego, and organisational drift are real.

But it would be equally be foolish to dismiss it. For too long, we’ve demanded something different and then scoffed when it didn’t arrive fully formed.

It reopens the space for dialogue, for rebuilding trust, and for imagining a different future — together

Mayibuye may not follow the familiar political script. But what it brings is something our democracy urgently needs: deep, direct engagement between ordinary people and the possibilities of power.

It reopens the space for dialogue, for rebuilding trust, and for imagining a different future — together.

South Africans deserve more than just new parties. We deserve new political cultures that honour consultation not as a box to tick, but as a foundation to build on.

As the Mayibuye process unfolds, the question is not whether we trust the conveners, it’s whether we are prepared to show up and shape what comes next.

Mayibuye has proximity to people’s power. Recognise it — or miss it.

Khanyisa Dunjwa is a social justice activist, writer, social commentator. She writes on politics, gender justice, and health. She is a founder of Khanyisa Dunjwa Writes, a boutique writing service focused on policy and advocacy. This opinion is written in her personal capacity.