MEDIA RELEASE
2025-02-12

SUMMARY: The Labour Party of South Africa (Labour Party) has condemned and critiqued the ANC and the GNU ahead of the 2026 SONA, calling it a failed government that has eroded democracy, mismanaged the economy, and allowed crime to escalate. The Party calls for a political reset, and meaningful job creation.

The State of the Nation Address (SONA) will be delivered by President Cyril Ramaphosa on 12 February 2026 in the City of Cape Town.

South Africa urgently requires a political reset from the current so-called leadership. The Government of National Unity (GNU) represents a democratic fraud, undermining universal suffrage by imposing a government that was never directly voted for by the people.

The GNU-led SONA reflects a convenient political settlement that is devoid of a genuine social contract.

“The tolerance of South Africans is too high” , noted Mathunjwa, commenting on the rampant corruption and the collapse of ethical governance.

This is evident in the political compromises to sweep the Phala Phala scandal under the carpet; the political connivance to introduce austerity measures that have incapacitated the State’s ability to provide public services; and the concomitant actions that have led to the privatisation of State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs), eroding the South African social wage and policy sovereignty. These decisions ultimately undermine South Africa’s independence through foreign debt running into billions of rand.

The GNU is now presiding over the making of a failed state. The SONA will be delivered against a disturbing statistical backdrop, where South Africa records an average of 64 murders per day – compared to Ukraine’s 38 civilian deaths per day in a war zone.South Africans are now statistically more likely to be killed daily than people living in an active war zone.

Crime has become a national pandemic, flourishing under captured state institutions and governance failures characteristic of a banana republic, as recently exposed by the Madlanga Commission. Communities are under siege from criminals, while the entire criminal justice system stands trial in multiple commissions of inquiry.

Just yesterday the South African Police Services released crime statistics for 2025/26 Q1 and Q2 reporting: 5 794 murder cases, 41 978 common assault cases, 1 897 sexual assault cases, and over 155 000 contact crimes, among others.

“These are not just numbers – they are proof of a failing state. Last year at SONA 2025, President Ramaphosa declared that decisive action would be taken to ensure water access for all communities, particularly the marginalised, and to fix infrastructure. Today, we are confronted with the Rand Water crisis” , critiqued Mathunjwa.

No South African is spared from the consequences of this government’s incompetence.

Unemployment has reached unprecedented levels – 32% under the narrow definition and 43% when including discouraged workers. Workers are facing a bloodbath of job losses as companies escalate retrenchments.

The National Minimum Wage continues to suppress wages, facilitating nationwide exploitation and weakening collective bargaining institutions.

“South Africans are suffering in poverty while the President focuses on registering spaza shops owned by foreign nationals”, remarked Mathunjwa. “In addition, the same President believed our youth deserved R350 grants instead of sustainable job creation to combat youth unemployment” , he added.

“Where is the dignity in these handouts? This has created a dependent state that serves the political agenda of staying in power while keeping South Africans poor and struggling” , said Mathunjwa.

The current social grant regime has produced an unsustainable welfare state under a severely constrained public purse. South Africans need empowerment, employment, and real opportunities to earn a living under a capable and enabling state.

Within the GNU, there is no ideological or policy centre — things continue to fall apart. It remains unclear whether the overarching policy framework is the National Development Plan 2030 or the GNU’s so-called “minimum programme of action.” This confusion hasparalysed the state’s response to national crises: floods across the country, collapsing infrastructure, a failing immigration system, porous borders, and a lack of political will to address illegal immigration.

This SONA is a watershed moment for a country at a political crossroads. It offers no inspiration to the ordinary South African facing the harsh realities of hunger in rural Eastern Cape, contaminated water in Hammanskraal, farmers battling foot-and-mouth disease, flood survivors in Limpopo, matriculants in KZN without tertiary placements, unemployed graduates, career students moving from one learnership to another due to the absence of jobs, whistle-blowers killed with impunity by criminal syndicates, and millions of South Africans who love their country and care deeply about its sovereignty.

The SONA has lost its meaning and has become a fashion show for all the elite beneficiaries of this fake democracy. “They will be in the city hall with air-conditioning and bottled water, but perhaps they must take a walk without their bodyguards and blue lights in their fancy attire to these communities. Maybe, just maybe, this will resuscitatetheir conscience”, challenged Mathunjwa.

“During this SONA, the President must do the country a favour by refraining from giving false promises and plans that will not be implemented. This is honestly a spit in the face of the poorest of the poor who still hope for the democracy they voted for”, concluded Labour Party Interim President, Joseph Mathunjwa.

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