MEDIA RELEASE
2025-02-13
SUMMARY: The Labour Party of South Africa (Labour Party) has rejected the 2026 State of the Nation Address (SONA) as a recycled script of unimplemented promises, accusing the Government of National Unity (GNU) of presiding over deepening crime, economic stagnation, infrastructure collapse and policy paralysis. The Party says South Africans do not need another speech filled with grand plans, but decisive implementation, accountability and measurable delivery that restores dignity to working-class citizens.
The 2026 State of the Nation Address was delivered on 12 February 2026 at Cape Town City Hall by President Cyril Ramaphosa against the backdrop of rising crime, record unemployment and widespread service delivery failures.
“The President opened the speech with a recollection of historical events such as the women’s March on 9 August 1956 to Union Building calling it an act of bravery, resilience, and resolve, yet today the only thing he can do is declare GBV as a national disaster. It is the same women who are being raped, killed and maimed under his very leadership”, criticised Mathunjwa.
“Furthermore, while he was presenting his eloquent speech recalling the bravery of the 1976 students facing the brutality of the apartheid system, just outside the City Hall, students were protesting because of the lack of student accommodation. The students under his leadership are facing the brutality of his infectiveness and lack of decisive leadership. So, who is he fooling, because clearly, he has learned nothing from the history he seems to know so well”, Mathunjwa further criticised.
The Labour Party notes that while the President once again announced sweeping interventions on crime, water security, infrastructure and economic reform, South Africans have heard these commitments before.
“This SONA confirms what working-class citizens already know — this government excels at announcing grand plans, but fails at implementing them”, said Labour Party Interim President Joseph Mathunjwa. “The country is drowning in policy documents, task teams and summits, but the lived reality of our people continues to deteriorate”, he continued.
The President announced the deployment of the South African National Defence Force to support police in combating organised crime. Yet violent crime has escalated year after year despite previous security plans and operations.
“Deploying the army is not a strategy. It is an admission that the State has lost control”, said Mathunjwa. “If decisive leadership had been exercised consistently over the past decade, we would not be normalising emergency interventions”, he added.
South Africa continues to record alarming murder rates and violent crimes in communities already crippled by poverty and unemployment. Small businesses close, families retreat behind locked gates, and township economies stagnate while political leaders speak about long-term frameworks.
On the economy, the President repeated commitments of industrialisation, infrastructure expansion and job creation. However, unemployment remains above 30% under the narrow definition and far higher when discouraged work-seekers are included. Youth unemployment continues to devastate entire communities.
“Every SONA promises jobs. Every year the queues grow longer”, said Mathunjwa. “Working-class citizens cannot survive on policy statements. They need productive industries, functioning municipalities, secure neighbourhoods and an economy that rewards effort and enterprise”, he continued.
The Labour Party further notes that water insecurity, failing municipalities and collapsing infrastructure remain unresolved despite previous commitments. Communities across the country continue to experience dry taps, sewage spills and electricity instability.
South Africa is becoming a classic example of a failed state being a state that can no longer perform its basic security, and development functions and that has no effective control over its territory and borders as typically defined. The President speaks of fixing water and infrastructure, yet we are still living with the consequences of years of indecision and half-measures”, said Mathunjwa. “Leadership requires implementation, not repetition”, he exclaimed.
On immigration and border management, the SONA once again lacked firm, enforceable timelines and measurable targets. Porous borders and administrative paralysis continue to place pressure on local communities, law enforcement and public services.
“The absence of clarity and decisive action on immigration reflects a broader pattern — hesitation when firmness is required, and grand announcements when accountability is demanded”, Mathunjwa added.
The Labour Party also criticises the GNU for lacking a coherent ideological centre. It remains unclear whether government policy is anchored in the National Development Plan 2030 or in the GNU’s so-called minimum programme of action. This confusion has translated into drift, compromise and diluted accountability.
South Africans did not vote for paralysis. They did not vote for managed decline. They did not vote for a State that announces more than it delivers.
“Credibility is not built through eloquence,” concluded Mathunjwa. “Credibility is built through measurable outcomes. Until crime declines, unemployment falls and infrastructure functions, no speech — no matter how polished — can disguise the crisis facing this country.”
The Labour Party reiterates that South Africa requires a political reset which includes the amendment of the constitution and the electoral system which will introduce presidential democracy.
South Africa being in a steady decline a referendum is urgently required, and the Labour Party holds that federalism as a system of governance will give power back to the people. This decisive leadership, economic justice and governance will place working-class citizens at the centre of national renewal.
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