President Cyril Ramaphosa is expected to be very cautious is his State of the Nation Address (SONA) this year.

The State of the Nation Address, in which the president outlines the state of South Africa economic, political and social condition, is set to take place on Thursday, 8 February 2024. It will be taking place at the Cape Town City Hall, and the president’s address will commence at 19:00.

At last year’s SONA, President Ramaphosa’s speech aptly noted that citizens “want solutions and they want government to work for them”. Among the key concerns for citizens, which he promised to tackle were loadshedding, crime and unemployment, as well as poverty and the cost of living, and corruption.

Loashedding

“What we can do is to fix the problem today, to keep the lights on tomorrow and for

generations to come.”

In the last year, South Africa experienced more than double the power cuts experienced in 2022. Independent energy analyst, Pieter Jordaan, has noted in several reports, that South Africa experience more blackouts in 2023 than in the past 10 years in total.

Unemployment

“Our economy needs to grow much faster if we are to meaningfully reduce unemployment.”

Unemployment dropped by 0.6% in the third quarter of 2023 to 32,6%, compared to 2022’s third quarter statistic of 32,9%.

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Crime

“We are strengthening the South African Police Service to prevent crime and improving the capacity of the National Prosecuting Authority and courts to ensure perpetrators are brought to justice.”

The April 2022 to March 2023 annual crime statistics saw the country’s per capita murder rate at its highest in 20 years – at 45 per 100,000 of the population. The attempted murder rate was also recorded at the highest it’s ever been.

Analyst’s take

Political analyst, Zwelinzima Ndevu says Thursday’s SONA may see the president put the ANC’s achievements in the last year in the spotlight, and focus a little less on over-promising. Ndevu says this especially true ahead of the elections and in the face of the minimal tangible gains made in his term as president.

“The people [of South Africa] would be looking at ‘what have you done, that you promised doing?’. The president to reduce or eradicate completely the issue of loadshedding… dealing firmly corruption, we have not seen anything happening [with corruption] thus far. And those are some of the things that people are going to judge him on.”

Ndevu says this year’s SONA is especially significant because it also marks the last one in Ramaphosa’s first term as president.

“When he started office, there was a glimpse of hope. The country was looking forward to a president that was going to change the trajectory of the country positively. Most of the things that were promised, have thus far not been achieved.”