GNU parties demand action over plans in Ramaphosa’s Sona

2026-02-12 - 07:06

Major parties serving in the government of national unity (GNU) expect concrete action to grow the economy, create jobs and do away with the ANC’s broad-based black economic empowerment from President Cyril Ramaphosa’s State of the Nation Address (Sona) today. They do not want new plans, proposals or visions, with a close ANC ally, the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu), calling on the president to do more to create jobs and reduce unemployment. Cosatu urges decisive response to unemployment crisis “It is fundamental that government responds decisively to the cries and hopes of the working class and society in general,” said Matthew Parks, Cosatu’s parliamentary coordinator. “Sona and government’s plans for the year must be anchored on tackling our dangerously high unemployment rate of 42.4% and sluggish 1% economic growth, entrenched levels of poverty and inequality, and endemic crime and corruption.” The federation welcomed the overcoming of the load shedding crisis by Eskom and called for further support to reduce the increasingly unaffordable price of electricity, as well as decisively dealing with the R100 billion municipal debt, corruption, wasteful expenditure and enabling Eskom to enter the renewable energy space. Parks commended the positive turnarounds achieved at Transnet and Metro Rail, saying this must be accelerated, including helping Transnet reduce its debt burden, expediting infrastructure investments and installing tight security to protect commuters and property. “Efficient rails and ports are key to thousands of mining, manufacturing and agricultural jobs, as well as to providing 10 million urban commuters cheap and fast means to get to work. ALSO READ: Same script, different Sona? Parliament budgets over R7 million for Ramaphosa’s address Calls to stabilise struggling state-owned enterprises “Decisive turnaround plans need to be actioned for struggling state-owned enterprises, in particular Denel, the South African Broadcasting Corporation,