{"id":103648,"date":"2026-02-10T20:21:29","date_gmt":"2026-02-10T18:21:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/?p=103648"},"modified":"2026-02-10T20:21:29","modified_gmt":"2026-02-10T18:21:29","slug":"sona-2026-analyst-says-ramaphosas-eight-wasted-years-demand-honest-reckoning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/sona-2026-analyst-says-ramaphosas-eight-wasted-years-demand-honest-reckoning\/","title":{"rendered":"SONA 2026: Analyst says Ramaphosa\u2019s \u201ceight wasted years\u201d demand honest reckoning"},"content":{"rendered":"

Neelam Rahim | neelam@radioislam.co.za<\/a>
\n3-minute read
\n09 February 2026<\/p>\n

\"\"

President Cyril Ramaphosa\u2019s SONA 2026 is expected to face scrutiny as analysts warn South Africans are \u201ctired of speeches and starving for delivery.\u201d \ud83d\udcf7<\/p><\/div>\n

As South Africa prepares for the State of the Nation Address (SONA) 2026 later this week, political analyst says the country is \u201ctired of speeches and starving for delivery\u201d, with unemployment, weak growth and the rising cost of living dominating public frustration.<\/p>\n

Speaking to Radio Islam International,<\/a><\/em> Gqubule described President Cyril Ramaphosa\u2019s term as \u201ceight wasted years,\u201d arguing that South Africans need an \u201cunemotional debate\u201d about the country\u2019s direction since 2018.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis will be the ninth State of the Nation Address by Cyril Ramaphosa,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd I think, frankly, it\u2019s been eight wasted years.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gqubule believes SONA 2026 will be shaped by the upcoming local government elections, predicting the ANC will face another electoral decline. He pointed to recent losses in national support, saying the party has steadily lost voter confidence in successive elections.<\/p>\n

He also criticised remarks by senior ANC leaders, saying the party has started the year by \u201cinsulting South Africans,\u201d and questioned how it plans to rebuild trust ahead of the polls.<\/p>\n

On the economy, Gqubule said South Africa\u2019s average annual GDP growth under Ramaphosa has been just 0.6%<\/strong>, which he called the lowest since 1994. He warned that by the end of 2025, GDP per capita will be lower than it was in 2007, meaning living standards have declined for nearly two decades.<\/p>\n

Unemployment, he said, remains the clearest sign of failure.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got the second highest unemployment rate in the world – 42.4% unemployment, 12.5 million unemployed,\u201d he said, adding there is \u201cno plan in the GNU\u201d to address the jobs crisis.<\/p>\n

On electricity, Gqubule said households and businesses are still under pressure, not from load-shedding, but from unaffordable tariffs. He called for subsidies and for NERSA increases to be capped closer to inflation.<\/p>\n

Looking ahead to the President\u2019s address, Gqubule urged listeners to separate \u201cspin from substance,\u201d predicting government will again speak of \u201cgreen shoots\u201d without evidence.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey must tell us honestly that we have failed to grow this economy and we have to change course,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Listen<\/strong> to the full interview on Sabahul Muslim<\/em><\/a> with Moulana Junaid Kharsany and Duma Gqubule.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Neelam Rahim | neelam@radioislam.co.za 3-minute read 09 February 2026 As South Africa prepares for the State of the Nation Address (SONA) 2026 later this week, political analyst says the country is \u201ctired of speeches and starving for delivery\u201d, with unemployment, weak growth and the rising cost of living dominating public frustration. Speaking to Radio Islam […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":103649,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[28,4995],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-103648","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latest-news","category-south-africa"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/SONA.jpg?fit=480%2C360&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pc0QIf-qXK","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-11 12:37:10","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103648","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/29"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=103648"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103648\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/103649"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=103648"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=103648"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radioislam.org.za\/a\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=103648"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}