By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Political parties have expressed mixed reactions to President Cyril Ramaphosa’s 2026 State of the Nation Address (SONA) delivered at Cape Town City Hall on Thursday evening.
In his address, Ramaphosa announced in the coming days, the SANDF would be deployed in the Western Cape and Gauteng to deal with gang violence and illegal mining.
He also announced R156billion in public funding for water and sanitation infrastructure alone over the next three years. In response to the water crisis, a National Water Crisis Committee, which he will chair, will also be established.
Ramaphosa pledged decisive action to confront rampant crime, dysfunctional municipalities and the next phase of Eskom’s restructuring.
Democratic Alliance (DA) leader, John Steenhuisen, said South Africa must accelerate economic growth to meaningfully reduce unemployment and lower the cost of living.
He has welcomed several interventions announced by Ramaphosa, including restoring accountability in public finances and declaring a state of disaster to combat foot-and-mouth disease.
But Steenhuisen says the speech did not go far enough to deliver action to fix the state of municipalities.
“Citizens around the country are feeling the sharp edge of municipal failure. No water in their taps, no electricity in their homes, their roads are crumbling, and their infrastructure is crumbling. We send billions of rand down to local government every year. A lot of it comes back unspent, and that has to stop. We’ve also welcomed the ring-fencing that is announced on water services.”
Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) leader Julius Malema has welcomed the deployment of the SA National Defence Force (SANDF) to curb crime.
Malema said the president’s 9th SONA offered nothing new.
“Today the difference is that he is saying them with energy,” Malema said.
Ramaphosa’s SONA outlined plans to strengthen national oversight of basic services, particularly the water crisis.
“We will now elevate our response to the water crisis to a National Water Crisis Committee, which I will chair.
“It will bring together all existing efforts into a single coordinating body, deploying technical experts and resources to municipalities facing water challenges. We will act swiftly, using constitutional powers where necessary,” he said.
Malema dismissed the initiative as more bureaucratic layering than problem-solving. “Task team after task team is a way to shift responsibility,” he said.
“It confirms that the GNU lacks the capacity to execute its own responsibilities. Once again, we are listening to a man using a government platform during an election year to campaign for his party.”
African National Congress (ANC) Treasurer-General Dr Gwen Ramokgopa has described the speech as inspiring.
“I am very inspired by the President’s speech. Actually, I was saying to someone that this is a speech that will leave a legacy for the leadership of President Cyril Ramaphosa. I think over the year, he has worked hard to turn around the decay that he inherited, destabilised by the COVID-19 pandemic and the global problems, but he has stood firm to say that South Africa shall and will be better under my leadership. And yes, we appreciate that it is a GNU that he is leading.”
Umkhonto weSizwe (MK) Party’s Visvin Reddy said, “His speech was a PR exercise and a knee-jerk reaction to the current state of the country. The party that he leads is in a state of panic.They are going to the local government elections, and he has to say things that he believes will be pleasing before South Africans,” Reddy said.
“We have become all too familiar with his promises and task teams that takes us nowhere. What needs to happen, is Ramaphosa needs to resign.”
African Transformation Movement (ATM) president Vuyo Zungula was equally scathing, saying years of government failure meant South Africa was not a capable state.
“Since 2018, we have been fed grand promises — a bullet train, a university in Ekurhuleni, a smart city — yet none of these have materialised. Instead, the country is deteriorating before our eyes,” Zungula said.
Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) chief whip in parliament, Nhlanhla Hadebe, whose party is in the national coalition government, said while there has been measurable progress on certain commitments made during last year’s speech, several critical areas still require urgent and sustained intervention.
“We note modest improvements in the economy, including an uptick in quarterly GDP figures driven by a stabilising energy supply and improved export volumes. Additional positive indicators include South Africa’s removal from the grey list, relatively steady interest rates and gradual economic recovery,” Hadebe said.