Dear South Africa

DearSouthAfrica.co.za is a not-for-profit platform that enables the public to co-shape all government policies, amendments and proposals. Since launching in 2018, we’ve run many successful campaigns and have amassed a considerably large active participant network of over 1 million individuals across the country and beyond.

We do not run petitions. We run legally recognised public participation processes which allow citizens to co-form policy at all levels of governance. Whereas petitions, even if they contain thousands of signatures, are considered as a single submission by government, our process ensures that each comment made through dearsouthafrica.co.za is recognised and counted as an individual submission by government.

Furthermore, we keep an accurate record of all participation and produce a publicly available report at the end of each project. This report forms the foundation of a sound legal case should the necessity to challenge the decision arise.

Participation in decision-making processes is free and presents an opportunity for citizens, civil society organisations and other interested parties to influence the development of policies and laws which affect them.

We’ve made it easy for you as a responsible citizen of South Africa, to influence government decisions before they are made.

Prevention is better than cure.

This isn’t about you, this isn’t about me. This isn’t about us, as an us creates a them. This isn’t about competing, fighting or a race to the top. This is about collaboration to reach a common healing goal – and beyond. This is about using the word “we”. Together WE can achieve anything.

We are Dear South Africa.