After the first full year of the Government of National Unity (GNU), the President has heeded several of ActionSA’s calls for key reforms, reversing the pattern set in his previous nine SONAs, which were characterised entirely by fanciful tales and rehashed broken promises.
Despite it taking more than eight years, it was ActionSA’s Dereleen James’s decisive action in handing over a letter to the president in September last year, calling for a state of emergency, to deploy soldiers in gang-ridden areas. We maintain our demand for the declaration of a more stringent State of Emergency in affected communities, which would enable a true whole-of-society response including the establishment of special courts, expanded social intervention programmes, and coordinated intelligence operations across law-enforcement agencies.
Corruption continues unabated within government. Revelations before the Madlanga Commission and Parliament’s ad hoc committee make it clear that state capture is not a relic of the past but alive and well. Eradicating corruption requires firm, visible leadership from the President. He can begin by supporting ActionSA MP Malebo Kobe’s Fallen Whistleblowers Bill that is currently open for comment.
ActionSA has been the only party that has been advocating for decisive action on clamping down on illicit trade. ActionSA’s Alan Beesley has consistently driven this issue across Parliament’s Finance and public accounts committees. The illicit alcohol and cigarette industries alone deny the fiscus an estimated R30 billion annually, while the broader illicit economy costs around R100 billion in lost revenue.
Furthermore, after intense pressure and engagement with farmers by ActionSA Caucus Leader Athol Trollip, the President has agreed to our demand to designate Foot and Mouth disease a national disaster. ActionSA has repeatedly confronted the government in its lack of urgency to supply vaccines to farmers to inoculate and save their herds to address this unfolding crises, which is destroying the livelihoods of farmers, farmworkers, and the broader agricultural sector.
On water security, the President’s latest commitments ring hollow. In last year’s SONA, the President promised to fast-track major water projects, finalise the National Water Resource Infrastructure Agency, introduce licensing and enforcement for water service providers, and unlock large-scale investment in water infrastructure. Yet the national water crisis has only worsened. Water infrastructure takes decades to collapse and equally long to rebuild; the President’s sudden flurry of promises now is too little, too late. He has sleepwalked into yet another crisis of his own making. Gauteng municipalities taps have dried up whilst the Vaal river and dam system is overflowing, this is the worst indictment of the National, Provincial and local governments.
The same pattern applies to South Africa’s unemployment emergency. The president has since day one promised to create jobs. Yet one in three jobseekers cannot find work, and nearly 12 million South Africans remain unemployed. Economic growth continues to stagnate behind our Southern African peers, while factories close and job opportunities disappear. Every year, plans have been announced, yet there are still no jobs.
Just as Dr Kgosi Letlape continues to warn, the President once again ignored the reality that NHI is a pipe dream while the core dysfunction in our healthcare system remains. Equally, ActionSA Chief Whip, Lerato Ngobeni has made clear that the war against illegal immigration will birth zero results without the proper funding of the Border Management Authority.
ActionSA’s caucus will continue holding this bloated executive to account in Parliament, demonstrated by our outsized impact last year, asking 487 written questions and introducing four bills, far outperforming parties both in and outside of the GNU. It is clear that ActionSA has been able to influence the GNU more than the parties within it, demonstrating once again that a caucus of six punches like 60.
South Africans need action, urgency, and accountability. Until this administration demonstrates the political will to confront failure head-on, the GNU should take a leaf out of ActionSA’s book.
2026 SONA: ActionSA Makes Its Presence Felt More Than GNU Partners
After the first full year of the Government of National Unity (GNU), the President has heeded several of ActionSA’s calls for key reforms, reversing the pattern set in his previous nine SONAs, which were characterised entirely by fanciful tales and rehashed broken promises.
Despite it taking more than eight years, it was ActionSA’s Dereleen James’s decisive action in handing over a letter to the president in September last year, calling for a state of emergency, to deploy soldiers in gang-ridden areas. We maintain our demand for the declaration of a more stringent State of Emergency in affected communities, which would enable a true whole-of-society response including the establishment of special courts, expanded social intervention programmes, and coordinated intelligence operations across law-enforcement agencies.
Corruption continues unabated within government. Revelations before the Madlanga Commission and Parliament’s ad hoc committee make it clear that state capture is not a relic of the past but alive and well. Eradicating corruption requires firm, visible leadership from the President. He can begin by supporting ActionSA MP Malebo Kobe’s Fallen Whistleblowers Bill that is currently open for comment.
ActionSA has been the only party that has been advocating for decisive action on clamping down on illicit trade. ActionSA’s Alan Beesley has consistently driven this issue across Parliament’s Finance and public accounts committees. The illicit alcohol and cigarette industries alone deny the fiscus an estimated R30 billion annually, while the broader illicit economy costs around R100 billion in lost revenue.
Furthermore, after intense pressure and engagement with farmers by ActionSA Caucus Leader Athol Trollip, the President has agreed to our demand to designate Foot and Mouth disease a national disaster. ActionSA has repeatedly confronted the government in its lack of urgency to supply vaccines to farmers to inoculate and save their herds to address this unfolding crises, which is destroying the livelihoods of farmers, farmworkers, and the broader agricultural sector.
On water security, the President’s latest commitments ring hollow. In last year’s SONA, the President promised to fast-track major water projects, finalise the National Water Resource Infrastructure Agency, introduce licensing and enforcement for water service providers, and unlock large-scale investment in water infrastructure. Yet the national water crisis has only worsened. Water infrastructure takes decades to collapse and equally long to rebuild; the President’s sudden flurry of promises now is too little, too late. He has sleepwalked into yet another crisis of his own making. Gauteng municipalities taps have dried up whilst the Vaal river and dam system is overflowing, this is the worst indictment of the National, Provincial and local governments.
The same pattern applies to South Africa’s unemployment emergency. The president has since day one promised to create jobs. Yet one in three jobseekers cannot find work, and nearly 12 million South Africans remain unemployed. Economic growth continues to stagnate behind our Southern African peers, while factories close and job opportunities disappear. Every year, plans have been announced, yet there are still no jobs.
Just as Dr Kgosi Letlape continues to warn, the President once again ignored the reality that NHI is a pipe dream while the core dysfunction in our healthcare system remains. Equally, ActionSA Chief Whip, Lerato Ngobeni has made clear that the war against illegal immigration will birth zero results without the proper funding of the Border Management Authority.
ActionSA’s caucus will continue holding this bloated executive to account in Parliament, demonstrated by our outsized impact last year, asking 487 written questions and introducing four bills, far outperforming parties both in and outside of the GNU. It is clear that ActionSA has been able to influence the GNU more than the parties within it, demonstrating once again that a caucus of six punches like 60.
South Africans need action, urgency, and accountability. Until this administration demonstrates the political will to confront failure head-on, the GNU should take a leaf out of ActionSA’s book.