17 February 2026

Honorable Speaker,
Chairperson of the NCOP
Mr President and Deputy President,
Honorable Members,
Fellow South Africans,

It is my privilege to convey my deepest condolences to the family, friends and comrades of Jesse Jackson who passed away, earlier today at the age of 84.

First of all, I would like to congratulate you Mr President for delivering a State of the Nation Address which has ignited hope in society and taking us a step forward in rebuilding the confidence with people from different walks of life.

In Isizulu

1. Water crisis as a National Disaster, ngicela uyihlonze ngenhlekele
2. Mass vaccination for the livestock and focus on rural areas, often neglected
3. Managed the movement and control of the livestock
4. Employment of 10 thousand extension officers, started in 2021 and look for those 5000 of that time

Mr President allow me to join you in celebrating a historic occasion in our country and its people, the 70th anniversary since the 1956 Women’s March to Union Buildings, in which you deservedly recognized and invited the joint sitting of our parliament to applaud Isithwalandwe / Seamparankoe Mama Sophie Debryn, during State of the Nation Address.

Our country and people are indeed blessed with many heroes and heroines. These are men and women who chose to dedicate their lives to the service of the people.

This generation was prepared to sacrifice everything, including their lives, if this was necessary for the liberation of their country and its people.

Although as extraordinary as our heroines are and have been, they were and are human beings produced by the same society that produces all of us. We must continue to pay tribute to them recognizing the fact that while in every respect they are ordinary human beings, who have nevertheless shown themselves to be capable of doing extraordinary things.

In this context, I must also salute and pay tribute to the 1976 generation whose heroic deeds has made it possible for our country to celebrate the highest matric pass rate in year 2025. All of these are our heroes and heroines whose sacrifice and enduring commitment to the liberation of our people must forever be honoured and celebrated.

Madam Speaker, I am of the firm view that in paying a befitting tribe to this outstanding generation of heroines, I should borrow the words from the eminent Carribbean poet H.D Carberry, whose poem reads thus:

There shall come a time
When these children in rags
Who litter the streets
Who know the crushing mastery of poverty
And the curses of dirty and slovenliness,
Shall walk with heads erect
Proud owners of the new world
Masters of themselves
Admitting no inequality
Feeling no inferiority
Only a great humility and wonder
For the destiny shall be theirs
Together, we can make it happen.

Madam Speaker, there is no doubt in my mind that the vision of the 1956 generation 70 years ago, was also shared with the same conviction and determination by the 1976 generation of heroes and heroines, 50 years ago from today. I wish to state without any hesitation, that whatever the difficulties of the moment we too, the ordinary human beings, have the capacity to do extraordinary things in pursuit of that historic and noble goal to truly build a better life for all.

There shall come a time when we too can act in ways in which our children who still litter the streets due to unemployment and crushing poverty, can in no too distant future walk with their heads erect. As was done by the generations who came before us, together we can also make it happen.

We equally stand at a profound milestone in the life of our republic. This year marks thirty years since our “birth certificate” – the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa – was signed into law.

Three decades ago, we made a solemn commitment to move beyond a past defined by the “culture of authority” and arbitrary power to a “culture of justification,” where every exercise of state power is rationally tested against the supreme law.

Madam Speaker and honourable members, perhaps today it is more fitting to recite the Preamble of our constitution with which we have pledged our allegiance. It says:
“We, the people of South Africa, Recognize the injustices of the past; Honour those who sacrificed for justice and freedom in our land; respect those who have worked to build and develop our country; and believe that South Africa belongs to all who live in it, united in our diversity.

We therefore, through our elected representatives, adopt this constitution as the supreme law of the republic, so as to:

Heal the divisions of the past and establish a society based on the democratic values, social justice and fundamental human rights” Unavoidably, a question arises as we begin this debate on the State of the Nation Address: what kind of society did we set out to build? The fundamental position spelt out in the preamble of our constitution should inform our conduct as we continue to engage in the reconstruction and development of our country.

Madam speaker, in the landmark judgment on The State v Makwanyane, our Constitutional Court, through a majority judgement handed down by the eminent Judge Arthur Chalkason, defined this vision as a “historic bridge” between a “past of a deeply divided society characterized by strife, conflict, untold suffering and injustice, and a future founded on the recognition of human rights, democracy and peaceful co-existence and development opportunities for all South Africans, irrespective of colour, race, class, belief or sex”.

However, Madam Speaker, we must be honest with our ourselves and the people. For many, that bridge still feels incomplete. However, the interventions presented by the President during his state of the nation address point us towards a direction to resolve these historic and historical contradictions that continue to define the face of our nation.

In his book, The Promise, Damon Galgut offers a searing metaphor for our current moment. In this novel he depicts a nation’s history through a single, neglected vow: a promise of a house and land for a domestic worker named Salome that remains unfulfilled for decades as the family around her disintegrates.

Like the Swart family in this same book, we face the danger of “moral evasion” and “ethical paralysis”. We risk turning our constitutional promise into a “deferred justice” that eventually loses its power to heal.

It is a tragedy of our time that national identity is fraying. The proportion of citizens who identify primarily as “South African” rather than by their ethnic group has declined. We are retreating into ethnic and racial distrust, with many of our people believing the government discriminates against their specific group. This is the “shouting economy”, where loud, exclusionary voices drown out the subtle messages of reconciliation.

This social fragmentation is worsened by internal and external threats to our security. Mr President, you correctly identified that we are facing an “existential threat” from organised crime syndicates: from Zama Zama paramilitary units in our mines, to the Construction and Water mafias extorting our developers and sabotaging our infrastructure. These groups are attempting to dismantle the state’s capacity to protect its citizens, turning our townships into warzones where children are caught in the crossfire.

Externally, we are witnessing a global order refusing to die and a new one struggling to be born. As a country we have a solemn duty to mobilise the African continent and the Global South to contribute to define this Multipolar World Order while it is still in gestation. Africa must be a polar on its own, with a defined agenda which has its people at the center.

Mr President, the 2026 SONA is the architectural plan to reinforce that “historic bridge” we began building 30 years ago. The deployment of the SANDF to support our police in gang hotspots and illegal mining belts is a necessary and decisive step to reclaim our communities and protect the lives of our people.

Through the Criminal Justice Reform Initiative and the Whistle-Blower Protection Bill, you are also cutting out the “moral rot” exposed at the Parliamentary Ad-Hoc Committee and the Madlanga Commission of Inquiry.

To address the “unfulfilled promise” of our socio-economic conditions, we welcome the President’s continued commitment to investing in public infrastructure. We should add, Mr President, drawing on the experience of the 2010 FIFA World Cup, infrastructural development fails to fulfill the desired impact if it is not paired with a sound industrial policy. The manufacturing of cement, nuts and bolts, must be produced domestically. Madam Speaker, the author Galgut, in his novel warns that a “diminished family” results from a breached promise. We choose a different path. We choose the “altruistic and humanitarian philosophy” of The State v Makwanyane, where the state serves as a moral role model, valuing every life as priceless.

Let us recommit to building the bridge!

Let us ensure that thirty years from now, the promise is no longer a story of what might have been, but a testament to what we have achieved together. I dare say, Mr President and honourable members, together we also can make it happen.

I thank you.