MEDIA STATEMENT | FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 12 February 2026

SONA 2026: A Wikipedia Summary of a Nation in Crisis -Empty Words, Recycled Promises, and Contempt for the Poor 

The African Congress for Transformation (ACT) has listened carefully to the 2026 State of the Nation Address delivered by President Cyril Ramaphosa. What South Africans received tonight was not a decisive programme of action – it was a rehearsed Wikipedia summary of a country that exists only in statistics and self-praise. 

SONA 2026 was not a plan. It was a performance. 

It was verbal gymnastics masquerading as leadership. It was condescension wrapped in polished English. It was the epitome of pseudo-intellectual posturing from a President who speaks at the poor, not to them – and certainly not for them. 

From SONA 2025 to SONA 2026: The Recycling of Broken Promises In SONA 2025, South Africans were promised: 

–  The stabilisation of local government.

–  A decisive end to corruption.

–  Infrastructure renewal.

–  Real economic inclusion.

–  Reliable water supply.

–  Jobs at scale.

In SONA 2026, we heard the same promises – rebranded, repackaged, and repeated. Last year, the President spoke of fixing municipalities. This year, he proposes another White Paper.
Last year, we were told water challenges were being addressed. This year, we are told of a “National Water Crisis Committee.”
Last year, we were promised accountability in local government. This year, we are told criminal charges are being considered – five years too late.
South Africans do not need new committees. They need water in their taps. They do not need revised frameworks. They need working municipalities. They do not need PowerPoint governance. They need delivery.

SONA Must Deliver, Not Describe Tales of a Fairytale 

The President’s address spent considerable time describing economic growth, investor confidence, and global summits – while millions live in informal settlements, without sanitation, without housing security, without basic dignity. 

The Constitution guarantees housing, water, and dignity. 

What we heard tonight was a lecture on GDP statistics while children drink from contaminated streams. 

What we heard tonight was praise for stock markets while municipalities collapse. What we heard tonight was self-congratulation while inequality deepens. 

This government continues to describe the crisis as though it is a natural disaster — when in reality it is the result of political failure. 

Water Crisis: The Cry of a Black Child Is Ignored 

For five years, black townships and rural communities have suffered relentless water shortages: 

• Limpopo.
• Eastern Cape.
• Free State.
• North West.
• KwaZulu-Natal townships.
  For years, black mothers have queued at water tankers. For years, children have missed school because there was no water. For years, communities have protested – unheard.
  But in the past week, when middle-class and historically white suburbs experienced outages, suddenly billions are injected. Suddenly there is urgency. Suddenly there are ministerial visits. Suddenly there is a National Committee chaired by the President himself.
  ACT says this without fear:
  In South Africa, the cry of a black child is ignored – until white privilege protests.
  This is not governance. It is racialised urgency.
  Water insecurity in black communities was tolerated for years. Now that the inconvenience has reached affluent areas, it becomes a national emergency. This exposes a painful truth: the majority poor only matter when the crisis reaches the suburbs.

Local Government Is Not Failing – It Has Been Destroyed 

The President speaks of “overhauling” municipalities. Who destroyed them? 

Who deployed unqualified cadres? Who protected corrupt municipal managers? Who presided over R54 billion in incentives while towns collapsed? 

Local government is not weak by accident – it is the product of patronage politics. 

ACT rejects cosmetic reforms. South Africa does not need differentiated municipalities; it needs depoliticised administration and consequence management. 

You cannot reform decay with the same architects of failure. 

Housing: Still Peripheral, Still Abstract 

The President speaks of a “new model” for housing. We have heard this before. 

Informal settlements are growing not because people prefer precarity – but because government has abandoned spatial justice. Well-located land remains captured by elites and speculative capital. Working-class families are pushed to the periphery. Housing subsidies remain inaccessible to the “missing middle.” 

ACT has observed: informal settlements are permanent realities. Yet government still frames them as temporary. 

ACT Immediate Solution for the poorer of the poorest ca only be: 

• Immediate land release in urban centres.
• Community-driven upgrading.
• Accountability for housing corruption.
• A complete overhaul of the subsidy model.
  Economic Growth for Whom?
  The President celebrates:
• Stock exchange growth.
• Credit rating improvements.
• Infrastructure bonds.
• G20 diplomacy.

But the lived economy tells another story: 

• Youth unemployment remains catastrophic.
• Food prices are rising.
• Informal traders are harassed.
• Small businesses are suffocated by regulation.
• Inequality remains among the worst in the world.
  Economic growth that does not transform structural inequality is statistical propaganda. Growth without redistribution is exclusion.
  Growth without justice is instability.
  The Government of National Unity: Unity for Elites, Not for the Poor
  The President celebrates the Government of National Unity as a triumph of cooperation. ACT sees it differently.
  It is an elite pact to stabilise markets, not to transform society.
  It protects capital. It reassures investors. It pacifies political competition.
  But it does not fundamentally alter the lived conditions of the majority poor.
  SONA 2026: The Epitome of Pseudo-Intellectual Governance
  ACT views this SONA as nothing more than:
• A curated narrative.
• A carefully crafted speech heavy on rhetoric and light on delivery.
• A Wikipedia-style summary of achievements detached from lived reality.
  The President speaks in polished paragraphs while communities live in collapse.
  He speaks of institutional strength while municipalities disintegrate. He speaks of anti-corruption while political protection networks persist. He speaks of dignity while millions queue for water.
  This is not leadership of urgency.
  It is the language of a man comfortable with crisis – so long as it is not personally inconvenient.

ACT’s Position 

South Africa does not need another SONA. It needs: 

• Radical accountability.
• Decisive land reform.
• Depoliticised local government.
• Community-driven development.
• Water security prioritised for the historically neglected.
• A housing revolution rooted in spatial justice.
• Real consequence management for corruption.
  SONA 2026 had an opportunity to shift from promises to proof. It failed.
  Conclusion
  South Africa is not asking for speeches.
  It is asking for water. It is asking for jobs. It is asking for safe communities. It is asking for dignified housing. It is asking for equal urgency.
  DAG is correct: SONA must deliver, not describe. Tonight, South Africans received description.
  The African Congress for Transformation will continue to stand with the majority poor – not in polished halls, but in communities where democracy is measured not by speeches, but by service delivery.
  The question is no longer whether government knows what to do.
  The question is whether it has the courage to do it – and to be held accountable when it fails.

Issued by: 

Rev. Mohau Khumalo
Spokesperson – African Congress for Transformation (ACT)