SONA 2026: More task teams, still no consequences

The Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (OUTA) finds President Cyril Ramaphosa’s 2026 State of the Nation Address (SONA) deeply disappointing. South Africans have heard many of his hollow promises and plans before. From tackling corruption to building universities, to job creation, professionalising the public sector, and addressing procurement maladministration, the commitments sounded familiar, but implementation has been weak to non-existent.

“South Africa does not have a shortage of plans,” says OUTA CEO Wayne Duvenage. “We have a shortage of implementation, transparency, and accountability.”

President Ramaphosa emphasised that organised crime is the biggest threat to our democracy. OUTA’s view is that the real threat to our democracy is corruption thriving within many government institutions, enabled by the very leadership that sits within the President’s cabinet and leadership ranks. “There is a gross lack of political will and inability to deal with organised crime that remains the greatest threat to our democracy,” says Duvenage. “Organised crime thrives where public officials are compromised, and where procurement processes are allowed to be abused without consequences, and where Ministers do not ensure credible boards and oversight structures fulfil their roles to hold failing executives to account.”

In President Ramaphosa’s 2018 SONA speech, he spoke of  SOE governance clean-up and changes to how boards are appointed with expertise and integrity, removing boards from procurement roles and strengthening external audit processes. This problem is still rife and very much alive today. In that speech and others thereafter, he reiterated that public service discipline and the installation of efficiency, diligence, and integrity would become the disciplined driving force of how the state will work, calling on public servants to become “agents for change”. 

In his 2020 SONA, President Ramaphosa confirmed that a national anti-corruption strategy (NACS) was near completion and would be launched by mid-year, positioning it as a “whole-of-society compact”. That NACS framework was presented to him by 2022, and it was dragged through more refinement processes over the next two years, eventually being presented in its final and implementable format in August last year, where it has since gathered dust, only to be referred to again in this week’s SONA speech.

“It is extremely disingenuous for the President to step onto the public’s highest platform and orate the same much-needed action plans and strategies to fix South Africa, year after year, with very little to show for it,” says Duvenage. “Strong language without enforcement merely deepens public cynicism.”

The speech once again leaned heavily on new structures and coordination mechanisms. South Africans have seen this formula before: a crisis followed by a commission, then an ad hoc committee or task team. Meanwhile, implementation lags and public trust continues to decline. The findings of the State Capture Commission exposed systemic corruption across state institutions. The Madlanga commission is now uncovering further governance failures. Yet visible prosecutions of senior political actors remain limited.

The President confirmed the continued deployment of the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) to assist in tackling illegal mining and gangsterism. While the scale of organised crime is undeniable, relying on the military underscores the ongoing failure to properly reform and capacitate the South African Police Service (SAPS). The rule of law depends on an ethical, capable, and independent police service. Military deployments cannot substitute for institutional repair.

OUTA welcomes the President’s acknowledgement that the water crisis stems from years of poor planning, maintenance failures, and systemic governance breakdown. The need to now create additional agencies and committees will be like fixing a gaping wound with a plaster, unless government resolves the entrenched dysfunction injected by a cadre deployment and patronage network that provides zero consequences for failed service delivery. The initiatives the President has suggested are classic examples of fire-fighting and knee-jerk reactions to the water crisis, reflecting a failure to implement and entrench long-term solutions. South Africa already has strong legislation governing water and municipal finance. How many municipal managers have been successfully charged and jailed for the multiple cases of raw sewage flowing into our river systems? 

“Water funds have been mismanaged for years,” says Duvenage. “Unless revenue is protected, procurement is transparent, and officials who fail society are removed and charged, we will be stuck in this place for years to come.”

The President again committed to digitising IDs, driver’s licenses, and public services. OUTA supports digitisation as a tool to reduce corruption and improve service delivery. These commitments have been made before. Implementation must now be visible, time-bound, and measurable.

The President made obvious references to improved credit ratings, lower interest rates, and a strengthening Rand, which is boosting the economy and attracting infrastructure investment. These matters, however, have come off a very low base and are largely positive consequences from international dynamics that are not of our own doing. Our reality is that millions of South Africans remain unemployed, and youth unemployment remains alarmingly high. Expanding social protection without sustainable acceleration of economic growth and broadening the tax base will place increasing pressure on the fiscus.

The speech contained more than 50 commitments. Without implementation deadlines and consequences, they are simply intentions. The question South Africans must ask is the same one they ask every year: how will all of this be implemented, by whom, with what funds, within what timeframe, and with what measurable consequences for failure?

“This was the speech of a President who appears to be bowing out, with one eye on the exit door,” says Duvenage. “In an election year, promises are easy. Implementation is the litmus test, and this is where our government falls hopelessly short. South Africans deserve honesty and meaningful action as opposed to repeated declarations, plans, and talk of task teams that invariably fail to implement.”

OUTA will continue to monitor implementation closely and hold government accountable for the commitments made in SONA 2026.

A soundclip from Wayne Duvenage, OUTA CEO, is available here.