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Yesterday this newspaper reported that ActionSA Parliamentary leader Athol Trollip has correctly pointed out that the Government of National Unity (GNU) has largely failed to improve economic conditions, create jobs, or uphold accountability.

The Phala Phala scandal is a clear example. While the public deserves answers, many parties in the GNU have gone silent – by ActionSA’s telling prioritising the preservation of privileges over ethical governance. Whatever the reason, the silence is telling and signals a leadership more concerned with preserving the status quo than with holding the executive to account.

On the economic front, Trollip and ActionSA’s observations are equally apt.

The GNU has not materially lifted South Africa’s growth trajectory. Unemployment remains stubbornly high, and living standards for millions have barely changed. Isolated improvements, such as some progress in electricity supply, cannot obscure the broader stagnation that South Africans experience daily.

What Trollip highlights is a deeper truth: the GNU’s inertia is leaving voters betrayed. Government should be about outcomes – meaningful jobs, rising living standards, and transparent leadership. Two years on, South Africans see none of this in sufficient measure.

This newspaper has been a fan of the GNU and the fact that its establishment saved South Africa, but Trollip is right to call the GNU to account – and his criticism is a warning of how important smaller opposition parties remain in doing just that. The country’s patience is finite, and the consequences of continued inaction will be felt across both the economy and public trust. If the GNU cannot act decisively, the mandate it claims from the electorate risks being hollow – so well done to ActionSA for pointing that out.