President Cyril Ramaphosa told the nation that South Africa was in a stronger position economically than it was a year ago, citing growth and rhetoric around reforms.
The president was delivering his ninth state of the nation address at the Cape Town City Hall in a joint sitting of parliament on Thursday evening.
The address came as the water crisis in Johannesburg escalates and the country continues to be dogged by crises in crime, corruption, and general state capacity malaise.
“We are stronger today than we were a year ago. Our economy is growing again, and this growth is gathering pace,” the president told a full house.
As Ramaphosa alluded to GDP growth, projected to reach the 1% mark for the first time in years, some opposition MPs tried to heckle him.
He acknowledged that while South Africa experienced four consecutive quarters of GDP growth in 2025, the government must now redouble its efforts to ensure that the economy achieves stronger growth.
The president alluded to the improvement in the country’s credit rating by Standard & Poor’s, achieving the lowest annual average CPI since 2004, and South Africa’s removal from the Financial Action Task Force greylist as indications that better days lie ahead for the economy.
He said South Africa was on a clear path to stabilising its national debt, a trend that finance minister Enoch Godongwana is sure to expand on when he tables the 2026 budget later this month.
Ramaphosa reminded MPs of the structural reforms Operation Vulindlela has introduced to network industries, including electricity and logistics.
“We’ve brought an end to load-shedding ... We have made progress in improving the performance of our ports,” he said.
He said South Africa must continue to make progress that was previously difficult for the state to make in putting the economy in a better position for stronger growth.
TimesLIVE
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