President Cyril Ramaphosa delivers the 2025 State of the Nation Address. Picture: GCIS
Opposition political parties, unions, and analysts slammed President Cyril Ramaphosa’s State of the Nation Address on Thursday, suggesting it was filled with empty promises and still has only the ANC’s interests at heart.
The address, the first under the government of national unity (GNU) coalition, was given under the cloud of a swirling diplomatic storm amid the US freezing funding to the country and the recent deaths of 14 South African National Defence Force (SANDF) troops in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC.
But it was the government’s domestic policy on the National Health Insurance (NHI), Bela Act, and corruption that sparked the initial outcry.
Political analyst Daniel Silke suggested that while Ramaphosa was speaking as the head of a GNU coalition, his speech was pushing ANC ideals.
“The State of the Nation Address sentiment and content could well have been delivered without a GNU in operation.
“While it presents a moderate and business-friendly approach, it ideologically re-commits to Bela and NHI, and allows the ANC to pursue its key agenda,” he noted.
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Among the promises made by Ramaphosa during his address was a graduate recruitment scheme to “attract the best and brightest in public service” and a review of municipal utilities to make sure service delivery was achieved.
EFF leader Julius Malema suggested the president was wasting time with his speech.
“There is no plan or accountability. He uses this platform to waffle. He says he will create jobs, but he does not say where or how. He says he will develop infrastructure, but where and how. There is no plan, only utterances to pass the time.
“He knows he will not be challenged on it by those he is in coalition with”.
Malema referenced Ramaphosa’s previous promises to build houses and said, “He is not a man who follows through on what he promises at Sona.
“We are still talking about water [after all these years that he has been president]. He is good at throwing around numbers during these speeches but we don’t see the money.”
The EFF’s Gauteng spokesperson Dumisani Baleni told broadcaster eNCA that he had little faith in Ramaphosa’s promises.
“We have attended the State of the Nation Address before and it has always been poetry and nice words without any form of a coherent plan.”
ALSO READ: President Cyril Ramaphosa’s State of the Nation Address in full
Ramaphosa also promised to fight the scourge of corruption, saying there has been progress in implementing the recommendations of the State Capture Commission, including the signing into law of several legislative reforms.
“We will finalise the whistleblower protection framework and introduce the Whistleblower Protections Bill in Parliament during this financial year. This year, we will strengthen South Africa’s system to combat money laundering and terror financing with further legislative and system improvements.”
Gauteng uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) Party spokesperson Bafana Mahlabe said promises were in abundance but corruption persisted.
“He has done nothing. He came to the presidency promising to fight corruption, but since he has taken office, corruption has escalated, and the economic situation remains dire.
“This clearly shows that the man doesn’t know what he is doing, and he is surrounded by people who have no clue. Most of the problems we have as a country today are self-inflicted.”
MK Party deputy president John Hlophe described the speech as “boring and uninspiring”.
“One expected quite a lot from a head of state. I thought the president would pick up on the promises made at last year’s Sona but he didn’t deal with any of them at length. We know poverty is worse than before, he made no mention of it. He spoke about an ideal nation”.
He said Ramaphosa did not speak about land or racism, when it is a major concern for many South Africans.
ALSO READ: Sona 2025: Ramaphosa outlines GNU’s five year plan
DA leader John Steenhuisen said he was pleased by Ramaphosa’s speech but stressed urgency.
“We only have four years left as a GNU and at the end of the four years we need to show jobs. I would have liked to see more deadlines given on by when we will have achieved these objectives but we need to work with the departments to ensure we achieve what has been set out”
African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP) leader Kenneth Meshoe described the speech as a “mixed bag” but noted how the president was heckled when he spoke about corruption, with MPs screaming “phala phala”.
“The president must come clean with what happened in Phala Phala. The president must be honest and tell us how the money was found in his couch.”
“Whenever he speaks about corruption, this will happen”.
He did, however, applaud the president for stressing that the bodies of slain SANDF troops would be brought home.
ActionSA president Herman Mashaba said he found himself wondering what he was doing at the speech.
“Instead of admitting to the problems in the country and providing solutions he celebrated welfare. The president said nothing concrete about how to create jobs and bring down unemployment”.
In his speech, Ramaphosa announced policy, norms, standards and regulations would be established in the next few months to to help support the implementation of the controversial Bela Act. However, Solidarity said these should have been introduced before it was signed into law in September last year.
“Solidarity welcomes the norms and standards, but remains of the opinion that they should have been in place before the Bela Act was promulgated.”
Ramaphosa told MPs it was time to “put load shedding behind us once and for all” and promised water security amid “a crisis”.
“When we go around the country, the elderly tell us how much they need water. The government will give them water … As we did with electricity, I know, and I am hopeful, that we will resolve the water crisis we have,” he added.
AfriForum CEO Kallie Kriel said that while South Africa’s infrastructure has crumbled, the government should work with the people to get itself out of these crises.
“There is a big task ahead, but we believe that within communities, there are people who have the knowledge and want to make a difference in their communities. They can be an ally to government”.
NOW WATCH: President Cyril Ramaphosa’s 2025 State of the Nation Address
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