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A Personal Note: Why I’m still doing this (and why I need your help)

I’ve spent around a decade building Dear South Africa, moving from a career in advertising and brand strategy into the trenches of civil society. My journey included a detour into politics as Deputy Secretary General of COPE alongside Mosiuoa Lekota, a role that gave me a front-row seat to why our bureaucratic systems often fail to listen to the people they serve.

What I learned is that the only thing that truly moves the needle is meaningful participation.

The Power of the Paper Trail
In the interview on this page, I talk about why this platform exists. Dear South Africa isn’t just about “sending an email.” It’s about creating a legally binding paper trail [11:15] that the government cannot ignore.

By law, every single submission we facilitate must be acknowledged and considered individually. This “burden of administration” is our greatest strength because it forces the state to deal with us as citizens, not just statistics. We’ve seen this work:

• • Halting Unfair Charges: When 61,000 citizens spoke up against drought water charges in Cape Town, the city was forced to reconsider [10:48].
  • The Weight of Public Voice: We physically delivered two tons of paper submissions to Parliament to ensure the voices regarding Expropriation Without Compensation were impossible to dismiss [14:55].
  • Holding the Line: Our massive turnout on the Firearms Amendment Act effectively stalled the process by overwhelming the system with legitimate, recorded public concern [22:14].

A Labor of Love, Not a Grudge
I run this platform as a passion. Because I believe so deeply in an independent voice for every South African, I’ve committed to never using monthly debit orders or telemarketing to fund our work.

The reality is that maintaining a secure, legally-robust platform that handles hundreds of thousands of submissions is expensive. To keep us independent and free for everyone to use, I often cover the financial shortfalls from my own pocket. I do this gladly, and I would fund the entire operation myself if it were possible. But as we grow and take on bigger challenges, that gap is becoming harder for one person to bridge.

How you can help
If you believe that a transparent, non-partisan platform for public comment is essential for our democracy, please consider a once-off donation today.

Your support ensures we can keep the servers running, the legal records secure, and most importantly, keep your voice at the table.

Thank you for standing with me. Together, we aren’t just watching history happen; we’re shaping it.

Feel free to contact me if you have any questions or suggestions.

Robert Hutchinson, Founder, Dear South Africa (est. January 2018)