As South Africans reflect on the President’s latest State of the Nation Address, political parties across the spectrum have offered sharply differing views, with some dismissing the speech as ineffective while others backed key interventions.
The uMkhonto weSizwe Party was among the harshest critics. Its Member of Parliament, Mzwanele Manyi, described the address as repetitive and wasteful.
“This was a waste of seven million rand. He could have just stayed in his office like during COVID. There was really no point in us coming here to hear more of the same,” Manyi said, adding that last year’s promised 3% economic growth failed to materialise, with growth not even reaching 1%.
The Economic Freedom Fighters also rejected parts of the President’s plan, particularly proposals to tackle the water crisis. Party leader Julius Malema argued that establishing additional task teams would not solve systemic failures.
“Billions have already been poured into projects like Giyani, and people still don’t have water. Announcing trillions or billions in a speech doesn’t change realities on the ground,” Malema said, accusing government of shifting responsibility instead of executing solutions.
In contrast, the governing African National Congress defended the address, saying it confronted the country’s pressing challenges, including unemployment, service delivery shortcomings, and crime.
The party’s first deputy secretary-general, Nomvula Mokonyane, welcomed the deployment of the army to support police operations against gang violence and illegal mining in Western Cape and Gauteng. She said the move would strengthen law enforcement capacity and help curb organised crime networks.
Meanwhile, Democratic Alliance leader and Agriculture Minister John Steenhuisen called for faster economic reforms to meaningfully reduce unemployment and ease the cost of living.
Steenhuisen welcomed several of the measures announced by President Cyril Ramaphosa, including tighter accountability in public finances and the declaration of a state of disaster to combat foot-and-mouth disease. However, he said the speech fell short of outlining decisive action to address failing municipalities.
“Citizens are feeling the sharp edge of municipal collapse no water, no electricity, crumbling roads and infrastructure,” he said. “Billions are allocated to local government each year, yet much of it goes unspent. That has to change.”
With political reactions ranging from outright rejection to cautious support, the address has once again exposed deep divisions over how best to tackle South Africa’s economic and service delivery challenges and whether promises from the podium will translate into results on the ground.