state of the nation addresslatest news & developments
The joint task force comprising the South African Police Service (SAPS) and the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) to tackle crime will not see soldiers performing ordinary policing functions. (Delwyn Verasamy/M&G)

SANDF deployment to back police set to start on 31 March

National police commissioner Fannie Masemola said the army would play a supporting role to the South African Police Service

President Cyril Ramaphosa delivers the state of the nation address.  (GCIS)

When young people hear Sona, we hear echo of promises

For many, Sona feels less like a turning point and more like a reminder of how far removed political speeches are from daily life

Hallowed: Cape Town City Hall before proceeding. Photo: GCIS

‘A state of nothingness address’

Even before his speech on Thursday, many opposition parties had already given the president a ‘fail’

Collaborative governance: The government of national unity had promised stability and accelerated reform. Photo: @PresidencyZA/X

The hits and misses under the GNU

A year after the president’s first State of the Nation address as the leader of a coalition government, performance has been good and bad

Non-starter: The Greater Lanseria Master Plan in 2020 outlined a city that intended to house between 350 000 and 500 000 people. Yet there is not
much to show other than large areas of open land and growing informal settlements. Photo: Delwyn Verasamy

Taking stock of Ramaphosa’s promises

The Lanseria smart city remains a dream and hunger, unemployment and crime continue to be high but there has been progress in Eskom’s turnaround

Nostalgia: President Cyril Ramaphosa, pictured here at Nelson Mandela’s prison house on the premises of the Drakenstein Correctional Centre on
Wednesday, had a lot to look back on in his 2026 State of the Nation address on Thursday evening.

From transformation to sustained delivery

Perhaps the most tangible area of progress since SONA 2025 has been energy stabilisation. The marked reduction in the frequency and severity of load-shedding, including extended periods without outages, reflects the cumulative impact of the Energy Action Plan and improved maintenance discipline at Eskom

The president did highlight investment in digital infrastructure and data centres, gestures that could, in theory, benefit streaming, gaming and digital content production. (GCIS)

Sona 2026 leaves the creative sector behind

South Africa’s creative sector went into the State of the Nation address with a clear demand: recognition, reform and rescue. What it received was silence. Just days before President Cyril Ramaphosa took to the podium, hundreds of film and television workers marched under the banner “Save SA Film Jobs”, warning that the industry was in […]

President Cyril Ramaphosa reiterated solidarity with countries and territories experiencing conflict and occupation.. (GCIS)

SA’s sovereignty is ‘not negotiable’, Ramaphosa says in Sona

In a pointed message to powerful nations, the president declared that South Africa’s sovereignty was “sacrosanct” and would not be compromised

President Cyril Ramaphosa has declared South Africa’s foot-and-mouth disease outbreak a national disaster. (GCIS)

Ramaphosa declares foot-and-mouth outbreak a national disaster

The president announced a mass vaccination drive of the country’s entire cattle herd as the government moves to limit economic damage, export bans and further losses to farmers

Along with crime, water has become the single most important issue for many South Africans. (Delwyn Verasamy/M&G)

Water crisis rivals crime as top concern for South Africans, Ramaphosa says

The government is moving to establish a national water crisis committee, intervene in failing municipalities and hold municipal managers criminally accountable for persistent water outages

Count them in: Historically marginalised young children remain at a much higher risk of exclusion because of the non-availability of centres and the high cost of attendance.

We can’t leave our young ones behind

The most recent statistics show that more than 1. 15 million children (68,4%) aged 3 – 5 years are not in ECD centres

The level of determination seen in Kenyan youths is unimaginable. They are fearless in demanding for a better country. Photo: Facebook / Chukwuma Ndiogulu

The Kenya they won’t tell you about

Across the country, prices remain stubbornly high … Electricity bills feel designed not for service delivery but for punishment

Ebrahim Rasool.

South Africa’s presidency confirms ‘regrettable’ expulsion of ambassador to US Ebrahim Rasool

The move, which marks a further deterioration of diplomatic relations between the two countries, was announced by US secretary of state Marco Rubio in a post on X late on Friday

Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana. (Photo: Mlungisi Louw/Gallo Images)

Budget: There are no rabbits in Godongwana’s hat

Debt service costs and civil servant wages account for 61% of total government spending, reducing budgets for, say, education, infrastructure and health

In the second quarter of 2025, unemployment edged up to 33.2% in the second quarter of 2025 from 32.9% in the previous quarter, while of the 10.1 million people aged 15 to 24,  35.2% were not in employment

Unemployment rate eases to 31.9% as four industries add jobs

This marks the second consecutive drop in the jobless rate, and the lowest since the third quarter of 2023

President Cyril Ramaphosa. (File photo)

Ramaphosa says never again will SA see forced removals

The president said the pain of the apartheid past necessitated redress but it will happen within constitutional bounds

US President Donald Trump. (File photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Trump order cutting aid, offering sanctuary to Afrikaners is premised on factual inaccuracies, SA says

The department of international relations and cooperation said the order failed to recognise South Africa’s ‘profound and painful history of colonialism and apartheid’

President Cyril Ramaphosa.

Political parties split on Ramaphosa’s State of the Nation address

The president was applauded for his stance on Trump’s backlash against South Africa, saying racial redress, equality and diversity would not be abandoned

President Cyril Ramaphosa delivers the state of the nation address. (GCIS)

Ramaphosa sticks to structural reform path, stands up to Washington

The president warned about nationalism and protectionism and said South Africa would not change its values or policies

President Cyril Ramaphosa.
(GovernmentZA)

Ramaphosa sends defiant message to Washington in State of the Nation address

Without mentioning US President Donald Trump by name, President Cyril Ramaphosa on Thursday sent a message to Washington in his State of the Nation address that South Africa will not abandon policies which its new administration this week branded “anti-Americanism”. Ramaphosa said the world was contending with climate change and violent conflict while “witnessing the […]