ActionSA’s GNU One Year Assessment: Unity in Name, Failure in Practice
Press Statement by Athol Trollip MP
ActionSA Parliamentary Leader
One year ago, ActionSA decided not to join the grand coalition, dubbed the Government of National Unity (GNU), comprised of the ANC, the DA, IFP and others.
We made this decision, because with regressive forces in the opposition benches of parliament, who played key roles in robbing the state of hundreds of millions during the State Capture era, along with the radical, violence-inducing rhetoric that was recently put on display for the whole world, we recognized that ActionSA’s most effective role in the 7th Parliament would be that of the constructive opposition. Our caucus of six – the Super Six – have been mandated to box like sixty.
A core duty of constructive opposition is to hold the executive to account, scrutinising the delivery of services and how public funds are spent. On this one-year GNU anniversary, we present our evidence-based assessment of whether the GNU has upheld its promise to deliver for South Africans.
To do this, ActionSA in Parliament developed our GNU Performance Tracker, a comprehensive index designed to monitor and hold accountable the GNU. Drawing on data from sources such as StatsSA and official parliamentary replies, the Tracker benchmarks performance against government targets, international best practice, and ActionSA policy positions.
Updated regularly, the Tracker empowers the public, not just Parliament, to see clearly where the GNU is succeeding and where it is failing. This is our concrete contribution, as principled, constructive opposition, to enhancing transparency, accountability, and public participation.
Based on objective data collated across six thematic areas — Ethical Leadership and Public Service, the Economy, Infrastructure, Basic Services, Education and Crime — we have extracted key indicators from our ongoing tracking. The following grading scale has been applied and the overall score is presented at the conclusion.
Ethical Leadership and Public Service [GRADE: F]
Let’s start with our Bloated Cabinet.
The formation of the GNU saw the cabinet expand from 30 to 32 Ministers and from 36 to 43 Deputy Ministers. Salaries, staff and related perks for newly appointed Ministers and Deputy Ministers alone have increased the cabinet’s budget by almost R250 million each year, an outrageous financial burden placed on already overburdened taxpayers.
Ministers are public servants, not royalty, and must live as such. An ActionSA-led government would implement a lean, effective cabinet of no more than 20 Ministers, with all Deputy Minister positions abolished and ministerial perks drastically curtailed. This would save taxpayers R1.5 billion a year, or R7.5 billion over the GNU’s tenure. To this end, ActionSA is in the process of tabling our Constitutional Amendment to abolish the position of Deputy Minister and provide Parliament with greater oversight of Ministerial appointments.
ActionSA has, through parliamentary questions, been monitoring executive travel. This is part of our broader effort to hold officials accountable and to shed light on excessive and wasteful expenditure.
ActionSA maintains that we must avoid a continuation of old habits within this new government of national unity, such as the reliance on costly and extravagant travel arrangements despite the mounting daily challenges faced by ordinary South Africans. Under the guise of official duties, taxpayer money is being drained to fund what appears to be lavish travel expenditure.
Lavish spending has defined Ministers’ first year in office. Based on replies received to date, R204 million has been spent on executive travel. However, this figure is incomplete. Two Ministers — Land Reform and Rural Development, and Social Development — have failed to respond more than six months after the question was submitted. Two others — Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities, and the Presidency — either failed to disclose any amount or deflected accountability altogether, with one referring the matter to the Standing Committee on Intelligence.
Most replies received only cover the first six months in office. Taking these omissions into account, ActionSA conservatively estimates that executive travel in the GNU’s first year cost taxpayers between R350 million and R400 million.
Some of the most egregious revelations include:
Deputy President Paul Mashatile and his wife spending almost R1 million on four nights’ accommodation in Tokyo, Japan, almost R250,000 a night, and R346,000 a night for travel to London last year.
Sports, Arts and Culture Minister Gayton McKenzie spending R6.7 million on travel, including more than R400,000 for a secretary to go the Olympics and R165,000 on a trip to Burkina Faso that never happened.
Cooperative Governance & Traditional Affairs Minister Velenkosini Hlabisa spending more than R10 million in his first six months in office while many of South Africa’s 257 municipalities languish in abject dereliction.
Malicious compliance from Ministries, ranging from an 800-page reply without totals from Higher Education Minister, Nobuhle Nkabane, to outright obfuscation from Ministers such Khumbudzo Ntshavheni in The Presidency, who despite posting extensively on X, refused to disclose her travel expenses.
Or ministers providing incomplete replies like John Steenhuisen who merely provided totals for his deputy with no breakdown of destination details or reasons for trips.
All in all, only 5 ministers out of 32 provided complete answers to all aspects of our travel questions, this shows a deep disdain for parliamentary oversight.
Two ministers, those of Social Development and Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development, have failed to respond, with replies overdue by more than six months.
ActionSA maintains that transparency in government spending is essential to restore public trust. When millions of South Africans are unemployed and essential services remain underfunded, every cent of public money must be spent prudently.
To address this crucial issue, ActionSA has introduced the enhanced Cut Cabinet Perks Bill, our maiden piece of legislation, which has now been tabled. This is a bold intervention to slash the bloated costs of one of the world’s largest Cabinets and bring long-overdue oversight to the secretive Ministerial Handbook.
The devastation caused by three decades of ANC cadre deployment, peaking during the State Capture era under former President and current MKP leader Jacob Zuma, is infuriating. Systemic corruption across all spheres of government has crippled service delivery, eroded public trust, and diverted billions away from essential services.
ActionSA tracks corruption using Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI), which compiles expert and business assessments of corruption in the public sector. ActionSA believes South Africa should not merely aim for incremental improvements, it should strive to be the least corrupt country in Africa. While Seychelles, as the least corrupt country in Africa, increased its score from 71 to 72 (out of 100) between 2023 and 2024, South Africa’s score stagnated at a paltry 41.
And we shouldn’t be surprised. The NPA continually exposes its deep dysfunction, either through incompetence or willful neglect, with the latest disgrace being the collapse of the asbestos corruption case involving former Free State Premier, Ace Magashule, due to the unlawful and irregular handling of the extradition of his former personal assistant, Moroadi Cholota.
This is not an isolated blunder, but part of a disturbing and entrenched pattern. The NPA has become a refuge for the politically connected, a place where accountability is avoided, justice is delayed, and prosecutions collapse with shocking regularity. Under current leadership, the NPA reels from one scandal to the next. South Africans are left wondering: are these failures merely a result of incompetence, or is there a deliberate agenda to protect the corrupt?
It is three years this month since former Chief Justice Raymond Zondo, the chairperson of the Commission of Inquiry into allegations of State Capture, handed over his report to President Cyril Ramaphosa. None of the Top State Capture kingpins are anywhere near a jail – in fact, many of them are members of this very Parliament.
To combat corruption as ActionSA’s public enemy number one, we will be introducing the Zero Tolerance Corruption Bill later this year. Although the Prevention and Combating of Corrupt Activities Act (PRECCA) provides a legal foundation to fight corruption and bribery, serious gaps in enforcement, deterrence, corporate accountability and whistleblower protection have allowed corruption to persist with impunity.
In recognition of the above, and with regard to Ethical Leadership and Public Service, ActionSA awards the GNU a grade of F, as the evidence points to a complete failure.
Economic Growth that Creates Job Opportunities [GRADE: F]
Since 1994, South Africa has consistently faced one of the highest unemployment rates in the world, making job creation a critical priority for the current government. ActionSA uses the expanded unemployment rate, which includes discouraged job seekers, to measure progress on this front. We challenge the government to reduce this rate to below 30%, a benchmark last achieved in 2008 during South Africa’s most successful period of job creation.
Under the GNU, the expanded unemployment rate has increased from 42.6% to 43.1%. According to the latest employment figures, nearly 300 000 people lost their jobs in the first quarter of 2025 alone. That means today, 5 000 South Africans will go home and tell their families they’ve lost their jobs, another 5 000 tomorrow and every working day after that. There are now 8.23 million unemployed South Africans, with a further 3.5 million so discouraged that they’ve given up even trying to find work. That is 12 million people without opportunity, without support, and without hope.
But these are not just numbers. They are the lived experiences of millions of South Africans, real people suffering under a government that has neglected them.
When evaluating the GNU, we must ask what the government has done to create jobs, because only sustained economic growth of at least 3 to 4% will lift South Africans out of unemployment. The painful truth is that in the GNU’s first year, annual growth has not breached the 1% ceiling, less than population growth. Even for the current financial year, National Treasury projects an overly optimistic, but still inadequate, growth rate of 1.4%. As long as growth remains this low, the heartbreak of joblessness will persist.
But this stagnation is not a mystery. It is the result of a government bereft of bold, pragmatic ideas and one that is openly at war with itself. Parties in the GNU spend more time taking each other to court than sitting down to craft meaningful reforms. One year since its formation, not a single new economic policy has been introduced.
And because there have been no bold economic reforms, South Africa remains uncompetitive as country to invest or do business in. In terms of global competitiveness – which measures a country’s ability to provide a conducive environment for businesses to thrive, attract local and foreign investment, and foster innovation – South Africa has stagnated at 60th out of 67 countries, as tracked by the International Institute for Management Development (IMD). ActionSA maintains that South Africa should at the very least be the most competitive country in Africa and ideally in the global top 50.
Rising food prices hit the poorest households the hardest. ActionSA’s GNU Performance Tracker tracks annual inflation in food and non-alcoholic beverages to gauge whether government policies are protecting the livelihoods of all South Africans. In line with the South African Reserve Bank’s call to lower the national inflation target toward 3%, we believe food inflation should also be brought below this threshold.
While government was able, mostly through disciplined monetary policy from the Reserve Bank, to stem the high inflation rate they inherited from the previous regime by the end of last year, food prices have started to rise at alarming rates this year. And talk to any South African about it – we can all already feel it.
Small, medium, and micro enterprises (SMMEs) are crucial for South Africa’s economic growth, as they drive job creation, stimulate innovation, and contribute significantly to the country’s economic growth. Yet talk to any local entrepreneur and they’ll tell you that South African small business owners have been neglected by the government, and this continues under the purportedly business-friendly GNU. Over 1,500 entrepreneurs shut down operations last year alone, despite being skilled, creative and resilient. ActionSA monitors small business support through the number of small businesses supported by loans from the Small Enterprise Finance Agency (SEFA).
But our township entrepreneurs are not able to thrive, because government has not cut a single inch of red tape, they have increased the fuel levy, making everything more expensive for everyone, the illicit economy is allowed to thrive, shutting out legitimate and law-abiding businesses, and the youth has been neglected entirely.
During this year’s budget – which had to go through three iterations, showing the lack of direction in the GNU – we were reminded that our government is not being run efficiently. By tracking how many cents of every Rand collected as tax revenue is paid as interest on outstanding debt, ActionSA can monitor the government’s ability to borrow responsibly and invest wisely.
To ensure that government funds are spent on crucial service delivery, and to bring South Africa in line with emerging market peers, ActionSA believes that debt service costs should not be more than 10 cents per Rand of revenue. However, under the GNU this number has grown from 20.8 to 22 – 22 cents over every Rand collected by SARS goes to paying interest on our debt.
In recognition of the above, and with regard to Economic Growth that Creates Job Opportunities, ActionSA awards the GNU a grade of F, as the evidence points to overall failure.
Enhance Infrastructure for Efficient Trade and Transport [GRADE: D]
Efficient ports are critical to trade, which directly impacts economic growth. The World Bank Global Container Port Performance Index measures the operational efficiency of container ports worldwide by evaluating factors such as the time vessels spend in ports and how quickly containers are processed. Tracking the performance of Cape Town and Durban harbours reflects how well the government is managing key logistics infrastructure.
ActionSA believes that South Africa’s ports should be at least the highest-ranking ones in Sub-Saharan Africa. However, the most recent index shows that Durban went from 369th to 398th, while Cape Town has digressed from 362nd to 405th, the worst port tracked. South Africa is supposed to be a leader on the continent, yet ports like Berbera in Somalia rank near the top 100.
The volume of goods transported by freight rail is a critical metric for holding the government accountable for the performance of South Africa’s rail network. By tracking the total quantity of goods moved across the country, this measure reveals how effectively the government is managing and investing in the freight rail system. It underscores the system’s role in supporting economic activity, particularly in key sectors like mining, agriculture, and manufacturing. ActionSA believes that the daily freight rail payload benchmark should be 500 000 tons.
Overall, freight rail payloads remain far below ActionSA’s 500 000-ton daily benchmark. Under the GNU, volumes have stagnated at just under 450 000 tons, with declines continuing quarter after quarter. Transnet data show that rail freight volumes have fallen to below 2008 levels, while port container volumes have risen only slightly over the last 14 years. This undermines economic growth and job creation, and in the case of road freight, public safety.
Eskom’s Energy Availability Factor (EAF), the utility’s main operational benchmark, reflects the share of its generation capacity that is available to deliver electricity at any given time. The Minister of Electricity and Energy has set a target of at least 70% EAF to eliminate loadshedding. According to the most recent reply to ActionSA, Eskom achieved an EAF of 60.6% for the 2024/25 financial year, an improvement from 54.56% in the previous year, but still well short of the 70% threshold. The same period saw an Unplanned Capability Loss Factor (UCLF) of 26.05%, indicating that over a quarter of Eskom’s generation capacity was offline due to breakdowns.
While government has celebrated a reduction in diesel use and fewer blackout hours, these improvements reflect a low base and tactical interventions, not a structural fix. Eskom still burned 680 million litres of diesel at its Open-Cycle Gas Turbines (OCGTs) – down from 1 billion litres in the 2024 financial year, this expense still cost taxpayers R15 billion. We remind South Africans that diesel costs over 12 times more than coal and 58 times more than nuclear.
Although ActionSA welcomes the reduction in loadshedding from the previous year, Eskom’s failure to meet its own internal 65% target, and the continued high rate of breakdowns, show that the GNU is still far from delivering a stable, sustainable electricity supply.
In recognition of the above, and with regard to Infrastructure for Efficient Trade and Transport, ActionSA awards the GNU a grade of D, as the evidence points to an overall poor performance.
Improve Basic Service Delivery [GRADE: F]
Access to proper sanitation is a basic human right and a cornerstone of public health and dignity. This metric measures the percentage of households without access to basic and safe sanitation, serving as a direct indicator of how well the government is addressing the needs of the most vulnerable in society.
It also reflects progress in eliminating reliance on unsafe systems like bucket toilets, while highlighting broader improvements in service delivery and infrastructure. The benchmark for this metric is 0%, in line with South Africa’s National Development Plan (NDP) goal of achieving universal access to proper sanitation by 2030.
As shown in StatsSA’s latest General Household Survey, the number of households without access to basic sanitation – those using bucket toilets, unimproved pit latrines, or lacking any toilet at all – has shown no improvement over the short- or medium-term, with one out of every six households in South Africa without access to basic sanitation, which not only fails global standards, but South Africa’s own norms and standards for sanitation.
With the next local government election looming, voters will punish those parties that have robbed South Africans of their dignity. ActionSA, where we are governing in the City of Tshwane, continues to deliver basic services with increased investment and improved efficiency.
The reality is that the GNU must deal with a growing population alongside a growing illegal foreigner population of as much as 5 million. From clinics in Johannesburg recording over 70% of patient files belonging to foreign nationals, to schools struggling to meet placement demands due to court-ordered enrolment of illegal immigrants, South Africa’s already limited resources are under severe strain. This has resulted in the diversion of essential services away from South African citizens, undermining their access to critical healthcare and education.
To address this issue, ActionSA has submitted proposed constitutional amendments aimed at overhauling key provisions that have been misused to fuel South Africa’s illegal immigration crisis, provisions that continue to enable the exploitation of our country’s hospitality and limited resources.
In recognition of the above, and with regard to Improving Basic Service Delivery, ActionSA awards the GNU a grade of F, as the evidence points to an overall poor performance.
Quality Education for All [GRADE: E]
The “real” matric pass rate metric in ActionSA’s GNU Performance Tracker tracks the percentage of learners who complete Grade 12 relative to the cohort that initially entered Grade 10. Unlike the official matric pass rate, which only reflects the learners who sit for and pass the exams, this metric offers a clearer view of education outcomes by factoring in those who drop out. ActionSA’s benchmark is a 75% completion rate, aligning with NDP education goals.
As we saw at the end of last year, the “real” matric pass rate, or throughput-rate, the metric that has long been used by the former official opposition, worsened from 55.3% in 2023 to 53.6% in 2024. We also saw that the Minister of Basic Education failed to deliver universal access to basic sanitation at our schools. At the end of March 2025, our children at 1 out of every 14 schools must still use bucket toilets.
ActionSA’s student support metric tracks the number of students funded by the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS). This metric is crucial for assessing the government’s commitment to expanding access to higher education, particularly for students from low-income backgrounds. ActionSA believes that NSFAS must support at least one million students each year to fulfil its mandate of promoting equity and opportunity.
Given that NSFAS’s 2023/24 annual report is still outstanding, almost nine months late, we are unable to assess the performance of this metric, which in itself is an indictment of government’s failure to support our most needy, our most ambitious youth, those who want to shape this country’s future. Over the past year, NSFAS has continued to demonstrate administrative weaknesses and a lack of basic oversight.
This institutional lethargy compounds ongoing governance failures, including repeated audit issues, delayed student disbursements, persistent irregular expenditures, and unresolved fraud—further undermining trust in its ability to manage funding effectively and safeguard needy South African students.
Yesterday, millions of young South Africans marked Youth Day not with celebration, but with the painful reminder of how little has changed since the dawn of our democracy. The NEET rate—young people not in employment, education or training—has risen to 45.1%. Nearly half of our youth are locked out of opportunity, without work, without support, and without hope. Perhaps most alarming is the rise in graduate unemployment, from 8.7% to 11.7%.
When even those who’ve done everything “right” can’t find work, it’s a clear sign of systemic failure. Meanwhile, Sector Education and Training Authorities (SETAs), meant to provide relevant, work-ready skills, have become synonymous with political meddling, inflated executive salaries, and underperformance.
In recognition of the above, and with regard to providing Quality Education for All, ActionSA awards the GNU a grade of E, as the evidence points to an overall poor performance.
Law and Order that Upholds a Just Society [GRADE: F]
ActionSA’s murder and gender-based violence metrics track the number of murders committed and GBV cases reported daily, providing insight into the government’s performance in combating violent crime and protecting the dignity of our women and children. Recognising the challenge of combatting this social ill,
ActionSA challenges the government to commit to halving the murder and GBV rates by 2029, targeting less than 38 murders and targeting less than 75 per day by that year.
ActionSA remains gravely concerned that while discredited narratives like “white genocide” continue to dominate some public discourse, the real war being waged in South Africa is the unrelenting war of crime against all who live in our country. Although the latest SAPS statistics reflect a year-on-year decline in the murder rate, South Africa still suffers from one of the highest murder rates in the world.
During this period, 5,727 people were murdered—an average of 64 lives lost every single day, or nearly three every hour. These numbers underscore the scale of the crisis, particularly for women and children, who continue to suffer unspeakable violence, with 13,452 sexual offences reported in just three months.
The Western Cape continues to be one of the most violent provinces, where communities on the Cape Flats live in daily fear. In areas such as Manenberg, Mitchells Plain, and Delft, residents are effectively under siege. The province’s per capita murder rate of 14.2 per 100,000 people, the second highest in the country, reflects the profound failure of SAPS and government to curb the grip of gang violence, drug trafficking, and organised crime. Without adequate police resources or the political will to dismantle these criminal networks, these communities will remain trapped in a cycle of violence and impunity.
ActionSA also remains deeply concerned about the underreporting of drug- and gang-related crimes, which are central drivers of the murder crisis in provinces like the Western Cape. While we commend SAPS for identifying murder hotspots and engaging stakeholders in Gauteng and the Western Cape, these initiatives must lead to actionable, measurable interventions. South Africans cannot afford more talk shops. They need decisive, transparent action that delivers results.
We further highlight the dire need for accountability within SAPS itself. Until those who enable crime from within are held accountable, the credibility and effectiveness of law enforcement will remain compromised. Corruption must be rooted out if South Africa is to stand any chance of reversing the tide of gender-based violence, violent crime, and the terror inflicted on our communities.
As mentioned, the unchecked movement of undocumented individuals across borders complicates effective service delivery, particularly in communities already struggling with inadequate infrastructure and high unemployment. ActionSA’s illegal immigration metric tracks the total annual cost of deporting undocumented foreign nationals and illegal immigrants.
That cost has risen sharply from R17.3 million in the 2022/23 financial year to R73 million in 2024/25. This fourfold increase reflects the mounting strain placed on the Department of Home Affairs and the South African taxpayer due to continued failures in securing our borders and enforcing immigration laws.
By investing in secure and efficient border management systems, the country can reduce the influx of illegal immigrants, thereby decreasing the cost of deportations. These savings can then be redirected toward initiatives that restore the dignity of South African citizens, such as improving access to housing, education, and healthcare services.
In recognition of the above, and with regard to ensuring Law and Order that Upholds a Just Society, ActionSA awards the GNU a grade of F, as the evidence points to an overall poor performance.
Overall Assessment
Across six thematic key performance areas, ActionSA has demonstrated that, by nearly every metric, the Government of National Unity (GNU) has failed to deliver meaningful reform. The consequence of this failure is a country caught in the grip of stagnation and regression, rather than progress, growth and measurable improvement.
While isolated pockets of improvement may be cited in certain areas, they have yielded little to no tangible impact on the prevailing socio-economic conditions in South Africa. The data continues to tell a sobering story that over the past 12 months, this government has paraded itself as a project of renewal, while the facts point to an administration that has mastered the art of governance through a thin veil of PR.
Every day, ordinary South Africans bear witness to the reality that life has not improved. Over the past week, as we engaged with people across the country, their lived experiences told a powerful and consistent story. From rural villages to urban centres, from Cape Town to Limpopo, from students to small business owners, the message was clear. The GNU has failed to meet the expectations of the people and has left behind a deep sense of disappointment.
And while there is some optimism to be drawn from the idea of political cooperation across party lines within the GNU, the lived reality remains that cooperation without reform is ultimately meaningless. South Africa continues to be plagued by deep-rooted governance failures.
It is on this basis that ActionSA assigns the GNU an overall grade of E, a clear reflection of poor performance and a missed opportunity to chart a new course for the country.
ActionSA’s GNU One Year Assessment: Unity in Name, Failure in Practice
One year ago, ActionSA decided not to join the grand coalition, dubbed the Government of National Unity (GNU), comprised of the ANC, the DA, IFP and others.
We made this decision, because with regressive forces in the opposition benches of parliament, who played key roles in robbing the state of hundreds of millions during the State Capture era, along with the radical, violence-inducing rhetoric that was recently put on display for the whole world, we recognized that ActionSA’s most effective role in the 7th Parliament would be that of the constructive opposition. Our caucus of six – the Super Six – have been mandated to box like sixty.
A core duty of constructive opposition is to hold the executive to account, scrutinising the delivery of services and how public funds are spent. On this one-year GNU anniversary, we present our evidence-based assessment of whether the GNU has upheld its promise to deliver for South Africans.
To do this, ActionSA in Parliament developed our GNU Performance Tracker, a comprehensive index designed to monitor and hold accountable the GNU. Drawing on data from sources such as StatsSA and official parliamentary replies, the Tracker benchmarks performance against government targets, international best practice, and ActionSA policy positions.
Updated regularly, the Tracker empowers the public, not just Parliament, to see clearly where the GNU is succeeding and where it is failing. This is our concrete contribution, as principled, constructive opposition, to enhancing transparency, accountability, and public participation.
Based on objective data collated across six thematic areas — Ethical Leadership and Public Service, the Economy, Infrastructure, Basic Services, Education and Crime — we have extracted key indicators from our ongoing tracking. The following grading scale has been applied and the overall score is presented at the conclusion.
Ethical Leadership and Public Service [GRADE: F]
Let’s start with our Bloated Cabinet.
The formation of the GNU saw the cabinet expand from 30 to 32 Ministers and from 36 to 43 Deputy Ministers. Salaries, staff and related perks for newly appointed Ministers and Deputy Ministers alone have increased the cabinet’s budget by almost R250 million each year, an outrageous financial burden placed on already overburdened taxpayers.
Ministers are public servants, not royalty, and must live as such. An ActionSA-led government would implement a lean, effective cabinet of no more than 20 Ministers, with all Deputy Minister positions abolished and ministerial perks drastically curtailed. This would save taxpayers R1.5 billion a year, or R7.5 billion over the GNU’s tenure. To this end, ActionSA is in the process of tabling our Constitutional Amendment to abolish the position of Deputy Minister and provide Parliament with greater oversight of Ministerial appointments.
ActionSA has, through parliamentary questions, been monitoring executive travel. This is part of our broader effort to hold officials accountable and to shed light on excessive and wasteful expenditure.
ActionSA maintains that we must avoid a continuation of old habits within this new government of national unity, such as the reliance on costly and extravagant travel arrangements despite the mounting daily challenges faced by ordinary South Africans. Under the guise of official duties, taxpayer money is being drained to fund what appears to be lavish travel expenditure.
Lavish spending has defined Ministers’ first year in office. Based on replies received to date, R204 million has been spent on executive travel. However, this figure is incomplete. Two Ministers — Land Reform and Rural Development, and Social Development — have failed to respond more than six months after the question was submitted. Two others — Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities, and the Presidency — either failed to disclose any amount or deflected accountability altogether, with one referring the matter to the Standing Committee on Intelligence.
Most replies received only cover the first six months in office. Taking these omissions into account, ActionSA conservatively estimates that executive travel in the GNU’s first year cost taxpayers between R350 million and R400 million.
Some of the most egregious revelations include:
ActionSA maintains that transparency in government spending is essential to restore public trust. When millions of South Africans are unemployed and essential services remain underfunded, every cent of public money must be spent prudently.
To address this crucial issue, ActionSA has introduced the enhanced Cut Cabinet Perks Bill, our maiden piece of legislation, which has now been tabled. This is a bold intervention to slash the bloated costs of one of the world’s largest Cabinets and bring long-overdue oversight to the secretive Ministerial Handbook.
The devastation caused by three decades of ANC cadre deployment, peaking during the State Capture era under former President and current MKP leader Jacob Zuma, is infuriating. Systemic corruption across all spheres of government has crippled service delivery, eroded public trust, and diverted billions away from essential services.
ActionSA tracks corruption using Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI), which compiles expert and business assessments of corruption in the public sector. ActionSA believes South Africa should not merely aim for incremental improvements, it should strive to be the least corrupt country in Africa. While Seychelles, as the least corrupt country in Africa, increased its score from 71 to 72 (out of 100) between 2023 and 2024, South Africa’s score stagnated at a paltry 41.
And we shouldn’t be surprised. The NPA continually exposes its deep dysfunction, either through incompetence or willful neglect, with the latest disgrace being the collapse of the asbestos corruption case involving former Free State Premier, Ace Magashule, due to the unlawful and irregular handling of the extradition of his former personal assistant, Moroadi Cholota.
This is not an isolated blunder, but part of a disturbing and entrenched pattern. The NPA has become a refuge for the politically connected, a place where accountability is avoided, justice is delayed, and prosecutions collapse with shocking regularity. Under current leadership, the NPA reels from one scandal to the next. South Africans are left wondering: are these failures merely a result of incompetence, or is there a deliberate agenda to protect the corrupt?
It is three years this month since former Chief Justice Raymond Zondo, the chairperson of the Commission of Inquiry into allegations of State Capture, handed over his report to President Cyril Ramaphosa. None of the Top State Capture kingpins are anywhere near a jail – in fact, many of them are members of this very Parliament.
To combat corruption as ActionSA’s public enemy number one, we will be introducing the Zero Tolerance Corruption Bill later this year. Although the Prevention and Combating of Corrupt Activities Act (PRECCA) provides a legal foundation to fight corruption and bribery, serious gaps in enforcement, deterrence, corporate accountability and whistleblower protection have allowed corruption to persist with impunity.
In recognition of the above, and with regard to Ethical Leadership and Public Service, ActionSA awards the GNU a grade of F, as the evidence points to a complete failure.
Economic Growth that Creates Job Opportunities [GRADE: F]
Since 1994, South Africa has consistently faced one of the highest unemployment rates in the world, making job creation a critical priority for the current government. ActionSA uses the expanded unemployment rate, which includes discouraged job seekers, to measure progress on this front. We challenge the government to reduce this rate to below 30%, a benchmark last achieved in 2008 during South Africa’s most successful period of job creation.
Under the GNU, the expanded unemployment rate has increased from 42.6% to 43.1%. According to the latest employment figures, nearly 300 000 people lost their jobs in the first quarter of 2025 alone. That means today, 5 000 South Africans will go home and tell their families they’ve lost their jobs, another 5 000 tomorrow and every working day after that. There are now 8.23 million unemployed South Africans, with a further 3.5 million so discouraged that they’ve given up even trying to find work. That is 12 million people without opportunity, without support, and without hope.
But these are not just numbers. They are the lived experiences of millions of South Africans, real people suffering under a government that has neglected them.
When evaluating the GNU, we must ask what the government has done to create jobs, because only sustained economic growth of at least 3 to 4% will lift South Africans out of unemployment. The painful truth is that in the GNU’s first year, annual growth has not breached the 1% ceiling, less than population growth. Even for the current financial year, National Treasury projects an overly optimistic, but still inadequate, growth rate of 1.4%. As long as growth remains this low, the heartbreak of joblessness will persist.
But this stagnation is not a mystery. It is the result of a government bereft of bold, pragmatic ideas and one that is openly at war with itself. Parties in the GNU spend more time taking each other to court than sitting down to craft meaningful reforms. One year since its formation, not a single new economic policy has been introduced.
And because there have been no bold economic reforms, South Africa remains uncompetitive as country to invest or do business in. In terms of global competitiveness – which measures a country’s ability to provide a conducive environment for businesses to thrive, attract local and foreign investment, and foster innovation – South Africa has stagnated at 60th out of 67 countries, as tracked by the International Institute for Management Development (IMD). ActionSA maintains that South Africa should at the very least be the most competitive country in Africa and ideally in the global top 50.
Rising food prices hit the poorest households the hardest. ActionSA’s GNU Performance Tracker tracks annual inflation in food and non-alcoholic beverages to gauge whether government policies are protecting the livelihoods of all South Africans. In line with the South African Reserve Bank’s call to lower the national inflation target toward 3%, we believe food inflation should also be brought below this threshold.
While government was able, mostly through disciplined monetary policy from the Reserve Bank, to stem the high inflation rate they inherited from the previous regime by the end of last year, food prices have started to rise at alarming rates this year. And talk to any South African about it – we can all already feel it.
Small, medium, and micro enterprises (SMMEs) are crucial for South Africa’s economic growth, as they drive job creation, stimulate innovation, and contribute significantly to the country’s economic growth. Yet talk to any local entrepreneur and they’ll tell you that South African small business owners have been neglected by the government, and this continues under the purportedly business-friendly GNU. Over 1,500 entrepreneurs shut down operations last year alone, despite being skilled, creative and resilient. ActionSA monitors small business support through the number of small businesses supported by loans from the Small Enterprise Finance Agency (SEFA).
But our township entrepreneurs are not able to thrive, because government has not cut a single inch of red tape, they have increased the fuel levy, making everything more expensive for everyone, the illicit economy is allowed to thrive, shutting out legitimate and law-abiding businesses, and the youth has been neglected entirely.
During this year’s budget – which had to go through three iterations, showing the lack of direction in the GNU – we were reminded that our government is not being run efficiently. By tracking how many cents of every Rand collected as tax revenue is paid as interest on outstanding debt, ActionSA can monitor the government’s ability to borrow responsibly and invest wisely.
To ensure that government funds are spent on crucial service delivery, and to bring South Africa in line with emerging market peers, ActionSA believes that debt service costs should not be more than 10 cents per Rand of revenue. However, under the GNU this number has grown from 20.8 to 22 – 22 cents over every Rand collected by SARS goes to paying interest on our debt.
In recognition of the above, and with regard to Economic Growth that Creates Job Opportunities, ActionSA awards the GNU a grade of F, as the evidence points to overall failure.
Enhance Infrastructure for Efficient Trade and Transport [GRADE: D]
Efficient ports are critical to trade, which directly impacts economic growth. The World Bank Global Container Port Performance Index measures the operational efficiency of container ports worldwide by evaluating factors such as the time vessels spend in ports and how quickly containers are processed. Tracking the performance of Cape Town and Durban harbours reflects how well the government is managing key logistics infrastructure.
ActionSA believes that South Africa’s ports should be at least the highest-ranking ones in Sub-Saharan Africa. However, the most recent index shows that Durban went from 369th to 398th, while Cape Town has digressed from 362nd to 405th, the worst port tracked. South Africa is supposed to be a leader on the continent, yet ports like Berbera in Somalia rank near the top 100.
The volume of goods transported by freight rail is a critical metric for holding the government accountable for the performance of South Africa’s rail network. By tracking the total quantity of goods moved across the country, this measure reveals how effectively the government is managing and investing in the freight rail system. It underscores the system’s role in supporting economic activity, particularly in key sectors like mining, agriculture, and manufacturing. ActionSA believes that the daily freight rail payload benchmark should be 500 000 tons.
Overall, freight rail payloads remain far below ActionSA’s 500 000-ton daily benchmark. Under the GNU, volumes have stagnated at just under 450 000 tons, with declines continuing quarter after quarter. Transnet data show that rail freight volumes have fallen to below 2008 levels, while port container volumes have risen only slightly over the last 14 years. This undermines economic growth and job creation, and in the case of road freight, public safety.
Eskom’s Energy Availability Factor (EAF), the utility’s main operational benchmark, reflects the share of its generation capacity that is available to deliver electricity at any given time. The Minister of Electricity and Energy has set a target of at least 70% EAF to eliminate loadshedding. According to the most recent reply to ActionSA, Eskom achieved an EAF of 60.6% for the 2024/25 financial year, an improvement from 54.56% in the previous year, but still well short of the 70% threshold. The same period saw an Unplanned Capability Loss Factor (UCLF) of 26.05%, indicating that over a quarter of Eskom’s generation capacity was offline due to breakdowns.
While government has celebrated a reduction in diesel use and fewer blackout hours, these improvements reflect a low base and tactical interventions, not a structural fix. Eskom still burned 680 million litres of diesel at its Open-Cycle Gas Turbines (OCGTs) – down from 1 billion litres in the 2024 financial year, this expense still cost taxpayers R15 billion. We remind South Africans that diesel costs over 12 times more than coal and 58 times more than nuclear.
Although ActionSA welcomes the reduction in loadshedding from the previous year, Eskom’s failure to meet its own internal 65% target, and the continued high rate of breakdowns, show that the GNU is still far from delivering a stable, sustainable electricity supply.
In recognition of the above, and with regard to Infrastructure for Efficient Trade and Transport, ActionSA awards the GNU a grade of D, as the evidence points to an overall poor performance.
Improve Basic Service Delivery [GRADE: F]
Access to proper sanitation is a basic human right and a cornerstone of public health and dignity. This metric measures the percentage of households without access to basic and safe sanitation, serving as a direct indicator of how well the government is addressing the needs of the most vulnerable in society.
It also reflects progress in eliminating reliance on unsafe systems like bucket toilets, while highlighting broader improvements in service delivery and infrastructure. The benchmark for this metric is 0%, in line with South Africa’s National Development Plan (NDP) goal of achieving universal access to proper sanitation by 2030.
As shown in StatsSA’s latest General Household Survey, the number of households without access to basic sanitation – those using bucket toilets, unimproved pit latrines, or lacking any toilet at all – has shown no improvement over the short- or medium-term, with one out of every six households in South Africa without access to basic sanitation, which not only fails global standards, but South Africa’s own norms and standards for sanitation.
With the next local government election looming, voters will punish those parties that have robbed South Africans of their dignity. ActionSA, where we are governing in the City of Tshwane, continues to deliver basic services with increased investment and improved efficiency.
The reality is that the GNU must deal with a growing population alongside a growing illegal foreigner population of as much as 5 million. From clinics in Johannesburg recording over 70% of patient files belonging to foreign nationals, to schools struggling to meet placement demands due to court-ordered enrolment of illegal immigrants, South Africa’s already limited resources are under severe strain. This has resulted in the diversion of essential services away from South African citizens, undermining their access to critical healthcare and education.
To address this issue, ActionSA has submitted proposed constitutional amendments aimed at overhauling key provisions that have been misused to fuel South Africa’s illegal immigration crisis, provisions that continue to enable the exploitation of our country’s hospitality and limited resources.
In recognition of the above, and with regard to Improving Basic Service Delivery, ActionSA awards the GNU a grade of F, as the evidence points to an overall poor performance.
Quality Education for All [GRADE: E]
The “real” matric pass rate metric in ActionSA’s GNU Performance Tracker tracks the percentage of learners who complete Grade 12 relative to the cohort that initially entered Grade 10. Unlike the official matric pass rate, which only reflects the learners who sit for and pass the exams, this metric offers a clearer view of education outcomes by factoring in those who drop out. ActionSA’s benchmark is a 75% completion rate, aligning with NDP education goals.
As we saw at the end of last year, the “real” matric pass rate, or throughput-rate, the metric that has long been used by the former official opposition, worsened from 55.3% in 2023 to 53.6% in 2024. We also saw that the Minister of Basic Education failed to deliver universal access to basic sanitation at our schools. At the end of March 2025, our children at 1 out of every 14 schools must still use bucket toilets.
ActionSA’s student support metric tracks the number of students funded by the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS). This metric is crucial for assessing the government’s commitment to expanding access to higher education, particularly for students from low-income backgrounds. ActionSA believes that NSFAS must support at least one million students each year to fulfil its mandate of promoting equity and opportunity.
Given that NSFAS’s 2023/24 annual report is still outstanding, almost nine months late, we are unable to assess the performance of this metric, which in itself is an indictment of government’s failure to support our most needy, our most ambitious youth, those who want to shape this country’s future. Over the past year, NSFAS has continued to demonstrate administrative weaknesses and a lack of basic oversight.
This institutional lethargy compounds ongoing governance failures, including repeated audit issues, delayed student disbursements, persistent irregular expenditures, and unresolved fraud—further undermining trust in its ability to manage funding effectively and safeguard needy South African students.
Yesterday, millions of young South Africans marked Youth Day not with celebration, but with the painful reminder of how little has changed since the dawn of our democracy. The NEET rate—young people not in employment, education or training—has risen to 45.1%. Nearly half of our youth are locked out of opportunity, without work, without support, and without hope. Perhaps most alarming is the rise in graduate unemployment, from 8.7% to 11.7%.
When even those who’ve done everything “right” can’t find work, it’s a clear sign of systemic failure. Meanwhile, Sector Education and Training Authorities (SETAs), meant to provide relevant, work-ready skills, have become synonymous with political meddling, inflated executive salaries, and underperformance.
In recognition of the above, and with regard to providing Quality Education for All, ActionSA awards the GNU a grade of E, as the evidence points to an overall poor performance.
Law and Order that Upholds a Just Society [GRADE: F]
ActionSA’s murder and gender-based violence metrics track the number of murders committed and GBV cases reported daily, providing insight into the government’s performance in combating violent crime and protecting the dignity of our women and children. Recognising the challenge of combatting this social ill,
ActionSA challenges the government to commit to halving the murder and GBV rates by 2029, targeting less than 38 murders and targeting less than 75 per day by that year.
ActionSA remains gravely concerned that while discredited narratives like “white genocide” continue to dominate some public discourse, the real war being waged in South Africa is the unrelenting war of crime against all who live in our country. Although the latest SAPS statistics reflect a year-on-year decline in the murder rate, South Africa still suffers from one of the highest murder rates in the world.
During this period, 5,727 people were murdered—an average of 64 lives lost every single day, or nearly three every hour. These numbers underscore the scale of the crisis, particularly for women and children, who continue to suffer unspeakable violence, with 13,452 sexual offences reported in just three months.
The Western Cape continues to be one of the most violent provinces, where communities on the Cape Flats live in daily fear. In areas such as Manenberg, Mitchells Plain, and Delft, residents are effectively under siege. The province’s per capita murder rate of 14.2 per 100,000 people, the second highest in the country, reflects the profound failure of SAPS and government to curb the grip of gang violence, drug trafficking, and organised crime. Without adequate police resources or the political will to dismantle these criminal networks, these communities will remain trapped in a cycle of violence and impunity.
ActionSA also remains deeply concerned about the underreporting of drug- and gang-related crimes, which are central drivers of the murder crisis in provinces like the Western Cape. While we commend SAPS for identifying murder hotspots and engaging stakeholders in Gauteng and the Western Cape, these initiatives must lead to actionable, measurable interventions. South Africans cannot afford more talk shops. They need decisive, transparent action that delivers results.
We further highlight the dire need for accountability within SAPS itself. Until those who enable crime from within are held accountable, the credibility and effectiveness of law enforcement will remain compromised. Corruption must be rooted out if South Africa is to stand any chance of reversing the tide of gender-based violence, violent crime, and the terror inflicted on our communities.
As mentioned, the unchecked movement of undocumented individuals across borders complicates effective service delivery, particularly in communities already struggling with inadequate infrastructure and high unemployment. ActionSA’s illegal immigration metric tracks the total annual cost of deporting undocumented foreign nationals and illegal immigrants.
That cost has risen sharply from R17.3 million in the 2022/23 financial year to R73 million in 2024/25. This fourfold increase reflects the mounting strain placed on the Department of Home Affairs and the South African taxpayer due to continued failures in securing our borders and enforcing immigration laws.
By investing in secure and efficient border management systems, the country can reduce the influx of illegal immigrants, thereby decreasing the cost of deportations. These savings can then be redirected toward initiatives that restore the dignity of South African citizens, such as improving access to housing, education, and healthcare services.
In recognition of the above, and with regard to ensuring Law and Order that Upholds a Just Society, ActionSA awards the GNU a grade of F, as the evidence points to an overall poor performance.
Overall Assessment
Across six thematic key performance areas, ActionSA has demonstrated that, by nearly every metric, the Government of National Unity (GNU) has failed to deliver meaningful reform. The consequence of this failure is a country caught in the grip of stagnation and regression, rather than progress, growth and measurable improvement.
While isolated pockets of improvement may be cited in certain areas, they have yielded little to no tangible impact on the prevailing socio-economic conditions in South Africa. The data continues to tell a sobering story that over the past 12 months, this government has paraded itself as a project of renewal, while the facts point to an administration that has mastered the art of governance through a thin veil of PR.
Every day, ordinary South Africans bear witness to the reality that life has not improved. Over the past week, as we engaged with people across the country, their lived experiences told a powerful and consistent story. From rural villages to urban centres, from Cape Town to Limpopo, from students to small business owners, the message was clear. The GNU has failed to meet the expectations of the people and has left behind a deep sense of disappointment.
And while there is some optimism to be drawn from the idea of political cooperation across party lines within the GNU, the lived reality remains that cooperation without reform is ultimately meaningless. South Africa continues to be plagued by deep-rooted governance failures.
It is on this basis that ActionSA assigns the GNU an overall grade of E, a clear reflection of poor performance and a missed opportunity to chart a new course for the country.