The SONA South Africa Needed

Last night President Cyril Ramaphosa delivered the State of the Nation Address, a speech that this newspaper has reported on as underwhelming in both ambition and reform. Partly in frustration and partly in hope, the newspaper has drafted an alternative report on the speech the president should have delivered and that a future South African leader one day might.

In a State of a Nation Address defined by clarity and economic intent, President Cyril Ramaphosa last night set out what he described as “a decisive turn toward growth, investment, and national strength”.

He began with foreign policy, announcing that “an envoy with a full negotiating mandate departs for Washington tonight to finalise a minerals and energy trade compact with the United States”. The purpose, he said, is to secure long-term capital flows, technology partnerships, and guaranteed market access tied directly to South Africa’s mineral endowment and energy expansion.

“Our objective is straightforward,” the president told Parliament. “We will lift South Africa’s fixed investment rate above 20% of GDP within two years.”

He added that a second delegation is heading to Beijing to secure a parallel agreement. “South Africa will engage all major powers in pursuit of its own prosperity. We will leverage our mineral wealth strategically and without ideological preference.”

Turning to domestic reform, the president announced that the government had taken a firm decision to repeal existing broad-based black economic empowerment legislation. “Current empowerment policy has not delivered the scale of growth and inclusion we require,” he said. “It will be replaced with a new empowerment framework based on socio-economic disadvantage.”

Under the new model, empowerment recognition will be earned through measurable economic contribution. “Firms will receive empowerment points for job creation, fixed investment, tax payments, and export performance,” the president explained. “We will reward production, not paper compliance.”

On infrastructure, the president declared a break with past practice. “All port and rail infrastructure will be universally leased to private operators under transparent concession agreements,” he said. Operators will be bound by state-mandated efficiency targets, with failure triggering automatic termination. “South Africa must move goods at global speed if it is to compete.”

Energy reform formed the centrepiece of the address. The president confirmed that government has resolved to refit nearly 20GW of defunct coal-fired power stations over the next three years. “Dispatchable power is the foundation of industrial recovery,” he said. “We will restore sufficient capacity to support an industrial-led expansion of our economy.”

At the same time, negotiations will begin with American, European, and Chinese firms to construct 20GW of nuclear power. “As refurbished coal capacity reaches the end of its life, it will be replaced with modern nuclear generation to underpin already planned solar energy expansion,” the president stated. “South Africa will secure reliable, affordable baseload energy for decades to come.”

He argued that these measures, combined with empowerment and logistics reform, will unlock domestic capital. “South Africa has deep pools of savings. Policy certainty will mobilise them. We expect substantial domestic capital to be committed to fixed investment over the next five years.”

On education, the president announced the introduction of a national charter school framework. “Parents in state schools will have the option to place their schools under accredited private management, financed through state subsidies and parental contributions,” he said. Performance contracts will govern these schools, and “institutions that fail to deliver outcomes will lose their charters”.

Addressing property rights, the president confirmed that expropriation without compensation legislation will be returned to Parliament for amendment. “Let me be clear,” he said. “Property may not be seized for less than market compensation.” He described asset security as “non-negotiable in a growth economy”.

In a significant shift on health policy, the president announced that the National Health Insurance proposal has been scrapped. “We will instead enable low-fee medical aid coverage and mandate insurance for all employed individuals,” he said. Fiscal resources will be redirected to finance equivalent state-backed coverage for the poor and indigent. “Universal coverage will be achieved through plural provision and disciplined funding.”

The president closed with explicit economic targets. “These reforms will lift our investment rate above 20% of GDP within two years and to 25% within five years,” he said. “As a consequence, economic growth is expected to reach and hold near 5%.”

At that pace, he argued, unemployment can fall from above 30% to near 10% within a generation.

“The government has only two central objectives,” he concluded. “Prosperity and strength. Every policy will be measured against those ends.”