South Africa in Dialogue (SAID) is an authorized project of Social Justice Foundation NPO (SJF) to promote the concept of open dialogue in South Africa, between South Africans and South Africans with others. The idea of SAID was birthed when Laurie Greyvenstein found in most conflicts that a lack of communication between disputants is a major contributing factor to unresolved conflict. South African-born Mathilde Stam who now lives in the Netherlands has introduced us to the Netherlands’ National Day of Dialogue and the rest is history.

Social Justice Foundation NPO gives full recognition to The School of Innovation, Nederland in Dialoog, and Imago Africa for bringing their valuable contribution to the table in the establishment of this movement in South Africa.
Laurie was encouraged by three mediator colleagues to pursue a movement to promote dialogue in South Africa. Reverend Dr. Christo Naude – a trauma expert, Reverend Dereck Beukes – an Imago therapist with a masters degree in dialogue, and Springbok Rugby Captain Theuns Stofberg – an imago relationship expert have opened Laurie’s understanding of the concept of dialogue. Thereafter we were guided and trained by Mathilde Stam, Wilma de Buck, and Yvette van Kempen from Nederland in Dialoog, and by Johanri Engelbrecht, Theuns, and Dereck from Imago Africa on the various models, principles, and practice of dialogue. Professor Erwin Schwella from The School of Innovation guided us in implementing the model of dialogue for the South African environment. SJF is grateful for their valuable contribution that gave rise to the establishment of the SAID movement in South Africa, which currently functions as a project of SJF.

There are many definitions for dialogue, but the one that best suits the purpose of our movement is the following:

Dialogue is a structured, informal, voluntary, and non-confrontational conversation between two or more people who agree to participate and submit to the rules of the discussion that is led by a certified dialogue facilitator who encourages verbal communication between all participants, whereby every participant gets an equal opportunity to express him/herself on a pre-identified topic which in response is respectfully mirrored by one or more designated participants within a limited timeframe, without judgment, opinion, reaction or infringing on the dignity of the speaker or anyone else, with the sole purpose of reflecting the speaker’s contribution, without any requirement of producing an outcome or desired result for the dialogue.

is to encourage South Africans to:

• Open communication over physical and psychological boundaries
• Communicate better
• Communicate effectively
• Listen to one another
• Being able to reflect on what was heard
• Minimise misunderstanding
• Enhance dispute resolution
• Enhance relationships between individuals and communities
• Enhance relationships between communities and government
• Promote dialogue in general, and to train dialogue facilitators

Social Justice Foundation is a non-profit organisation with its headquarters in Bellville Cape Town, promoting access to justice and thereby social justice to South Africans through alternative dispute resolution (ADR). The initial focus on the discipline of mediation has been expanded to include dialogue, mediation, negotiation, and restorative justice.

In October 2018 we were introduced to the concept of dialogue by South African born Mathilda Stam who went back to the Netherlands with her parents when she was eight years old. Laurie and Anneke Greyvenstein met Mathilde through Professor Erwin Schwella at the School of Innovation’s Annual Congress hosted by Hugenote Kollege in Wellington. Mathilde introduced us to the movement Nederland in Dialoog / Netherlands in Dialogue which started 20-years ago as a communication platform that opens discussions between refugees and their new compatriots. It started out small but was so successful that it was rolled out to the whole of the Netherlands and developed into a movement that now holds an Annual Week and Day of Dialogue every year.

We needed a unique model for South African circumstances. Four accredited mediators and members of the Social Justice Foundation Association of Mediators (SJFAM) were able to create a rather special approach to the dialogue model customized to our needs. Reverend Dereck Beukes, famous Springbok rugby captain Theuns Stofberg – both Imago Africa trained relationship counsellors, Dr Christo Naude – specialist trauma counsellor and Laurie Greyvenstein – ADR specialist, were trained by Nederland in Dialoog and Imago Africa over three months. They developed a unique method of dialogue for South Africa.

Dialogues will start online, and where possible contact sessions will be held. The starter sentence for the day is "To me, reconciliation means... ".
Participation is free of charge and should not last longer than 90-minutes per session.

Register online to participate in the first National Day of Dialogue that
will be hosted on the Zoom platform on 16 December 2021.

1. Register HERE
REGISTER  for the first session that starts at 10h00

2. Register HERE
REGISTER   for the second session that starts at 14h00

For any inquiries about SAID contact us at
admin@said.org.za

Please click HERE

REGISTER    To be trained as a Dialogue Facilitator

Training and examination is available online.