President Cyril Ramaphosa has acknowledged past missteps but said the country is turning the corner.
Image: GCIS
President Cyril Ramaphosa admitted to MPs while mistakes may have been made, the country is showing promising signs of recovery, “whether people like it or not.”
His comments came after two days of heated debate at a joint sitting of the National Assembly and National Council of Provinces, where lawmakers scrutinised and criticised his State of the Nation Address (SONA) delivered last week.
Opposition parties strongly opposed several proposals announced by Ramaphosa, accusing him of making promises he repeatedly failed to fulfil.
In his response, Ramaphosa said the country had stood firm in the face of an attempted insurrection aimed at destabilising democracy.
“We rebuilt in the wake of catastrophic flooding that engulfed three provinces and brought to an end more than 15 years of load shedding,” he said, despite ongoing power outages in some areas.
“Through effective macroeconomic management, we have tackled an unsustainable debt burden, where we ended up spending more on debt service costs than on health and education,” he added.
Ramaphosa acknowledged that errors had been made along the way.
“Make no mistake, along the way, we've made errors. There have been missteps. We've made mistakes. But on a continuous basis, we have sought to do work that will advance the interests of South Africans.”
“And over the last year, we have seen promising signs of recovery. Whether people like it or not, it has been there.”
He continued, “Whether people think it's an illusion, it has been there. Whether people think we've turned the corner or not, they are blind.”
Despite ongoing service delivery challenges, including water shortages, poor infrastructure and sanitation, poverty, and unemployment, Ramaphosa claimed the Government of National Unity is “turning the corner.”
“We see this in the steps we are taking to reduce unemployment and accelerate growth,” he said.
Official figures show South Africa’s unemployment rate fell slightly to 31.4% in the fourth quarter of 2025, according to the latest Quarterly Labour Force Survey (QLFS) released by Statistics South Africa (Stats SA).
Employment rose by 44,000 to 17.1 million, while the number of unemployed decreased by 172,000 to 7.8 million compared with the previous quarter.
This resulted in a 0.5% decrease in the labour force over the same period.
However, youth unemployment increased slightly, rising 0.1 of a percentage point to 43.8% in the fourth quarter.
Experts warned that structural challenges in the labour market remain, particularly for young people and those outside formal employment.
However, Ramaphosa said signs of recovery could also be seen in improved public finances, lower inflation, and growing business and consumer confidence.
“Although the progress is modest, much more modest than I would want, the momentum of change, however, is building,” he said.
“Our task now is to sustain this momentum, to protect and build on the progress that we have made, and to ensure that this progress results in tangible improvement in the life of every South African.”
He added, “Improved economic indicators may seem distant and abstract.”
simon.majadibodu@iol.co.za
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