‘We will not be bullied’

President Cyril Ramaphosa took a firm stance on Thursday night while geopolitical tensions and violent conflicts continued to escalate worldwide.

He opened his state of the nation address in Cape Town by addressing SA’s strained relations that had persisted more so since US President Donald Trump took over the White House.

Ramaphosa’s stern message, which received loud applause and cheers in the National Assembly, comes after SA was in the past two weeks under an international microscope after leaders of the US and Rwanda censured the country.

It started when Rwandan President Paul Kagame criticised the presence of SA troops in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, accusing them of protecting financial interests rather than engaging in peacekeeping efforts.

A total of 14 SA soldiers died on a United Nations peacekeeping mission in the DRC.

He also accused Ramaphosa of lying about their conversation, in which Ramaphosa reportedly warned that attacks on SA troops by M23 and the Rwandan Defence Force would be seen as a declaration of war. 

Meanwhile, Trump criticised SA’s Expropriation Act, claiming that it allowed property confiscation and that the country was heading in the wrong direction.

Trump threatened to cut all funding to SA over what he claimed were illegal land grabs in the country.

In response, Ramaphosa asserted that SA had overcome apartheid and would withstand these challenges.

While Ramaphosa immediately denied Trump’s claims that the government was seizing farmland illegally, he used his speech to declare that SA would not be bullied into submission and would not change its policies that were necessary to address the imbalances of the past.

“There are global fundamental shifts under way that affect every aspect of human life, from the growing impact of climate change to rapid advances in artificial intelligence, geopolitical tensions and violent conflicts.

“In the face of these challenges we are witnessing the rise of nationalism, protectionism, the pursuit of narrow interests and the decline of common cause.

“We are not daunted to navigate our path through this world constantly changing.

“We will not be bullied,” Ramaphosa said.

South African advocacy group AfriForum had lobbied Trump and Washington, alleging the Act was a threat to property rights, adding farmland would be expropriated without compensation.

Addressing this, Ramaphosa said in the wake of the attacks against SA, the country would stand together as a united nation, speaking with one voice.

“In defence of our national interest, our sovereignty and our constitutional democracy, by standing true to our values, by harnessing our unique strengths and endowments and by forging a common purpose.

“We can turn these trying circumstances to our advantage, and propel our country forward.

“As South Africans, we stand for peace and justice. We stand for equality and solidarity.

“We stand for a nonracial future, and we stand for democracy and tolerance as well as compassion.”

Ramaphosa said while the US funding to SA accounted for 17% of the country’s HIV spending, his government was concerned about the impact.

“We have been able to provide funding from our fiscus for our HIV and TB programmes over the years.

“We are looking at various interventions to address the immediate needs and ensure the continuity of essential services.”

NMU international relations professor Bhekithemba Mngomezulu said Ramaphosa was back-pedalling from a confrontation with Trump

“He had no reason to entertain Trump because he tends to run his country through social media,” Mngomezulu said.

He said Trump’s attacks were never about the Expropriation Act but rather his annoyance with SA’s stance on the Gaza conflict, taking Israeli leaders to the International Court of Justice, and its alliance with Russia.

“This issue of the Expropriation Act was just an excuse to bust out and express his anger,” he said.

During his speech, Ramaphosa highlighted challenges faced by municipalities, including persistent water and power outages.

In Nelson Mandela Bay, the city lost nearly half of its water during the 2023/2024 financial year. 

Electricity losses for the same period breached the billion-rand mark.

Ramaphosa said starting in 2025 the government would work with municipalities to establish professionally managed ring-fence utilities for water and electricity services.

This would ensure adequate investment and maintenance.

“We will undertake extensive consultation to develop an updated White Paper on local government to outline a modern and fit-for-purpose local government system.

“We will also review the funding model for municipalities.

“We will do so because many of our municipalities truly do not have a viable and sustainable revenue base.

“It is impossible to live without water. The economy can’t grow without water.

“We are raising this issue to a higher level, like we did with electricity.”

In 2024, Stats SA estimated that 1.4-million people and 578,000 households in the Eastern Cape lacked access to piped water. 

Ramaphosa said the government would launch a second wave of reforms to try to lift economic growth above 3%, focusing on boosting struggling state companies such as Eskom and Transnet and investing in infrastructure.

The central bank’s most recent forecast is that SA will grow 1.8% in 2025.

“Government will spend more than R940bn on infrastructure over the next three years.

“This includes R375bn in spending by state-owned companies.

“This funding will revitalise our roads and bridges, build dams and waterways, modernise our ports and airports and power our economy.”

Ramaphosa announced a new R100bn transformation fund aimed at uplifting millions of black South Africans who have previously been excluded from participating in the country’s economy.

The fund will see R20bn being pumped into funding black-owned small businesses every year for the next five years.

He said the fund would ensure that South Africans lived in a country where prosperity and opportunity were experienced by everyone.

“For many decades, our economy has been held back by the exclusion of the vast majority of the South African people,” Ramaphosa said.

Reacting to the speech, Eastern Cape premier and ANC provincial chair Oscar Mabuyane said it was realistic taking into account a difficult fiscal economic outlook.

“He gave a balanced speech that talks to an even distribution of the country’s resources.

“Municipalities in some provinces cannot generate revenue, even though the current model is based on what municipalities must generate so that they can benefit from the equitable share.”

DA provincial leader Andrew Whitfield said while he welcomed the GNU’s plans on economic growth, it missed the required urgency behind structural reforms as mentioned by the president.

“We are missing the urgency behind the reforms and timelines to execute these plans.

“Structural reforms without substantive policy reform won’t be sufficient to achieve the job creation we hope to achieve.

“We need to rethink our economic policy offering.

“It’s important that the GNU makes it easier for businesses to grow, but this didn’t come through strong enough.”

Bhisho legislature PA leader Tiphany Harmse said Ramaphosa delivered a progressive speech representing the collective of the government of national unity.

“It is clear that the president and his cabinet can work together and build together for the betterment of SA. 

“We support this address as it sets a clear tone of how we will ensure the improvement of the lives of the citizens of our country.”

EFF Eastern Cape chair Zilindile Vena said Ramaphosa wasted his platform where he could have explained the Expropriation Bill.

“We have a serious crisis of job losses but he didn’t explain a strategy to ensure the job creation he spoke about.

“He just said things to appease and entice the young people. 

“You can have all the investments and tourists you want, but in SA crime will work against those efforts if there is no commitment to implement crime-fighting tactics.”

Politics analyst Ntsikelelo Breakfast said he expected Ramaphosa to speak more on the DRC and why South African soldiers were deployed there.

“He tried to convince the people that as a government they are on top of things.

“However, the issue is that you can’t have economic prosperity in a country surrounded by a collapsing Africa.

“We need to help bring stability to those countries so that its people don’t come to ours.”

NMU economics professor Charles Wait said Ramaphosa used his speech to mention crucial aspects to get SA moving.

“This is the need for a professional public service for an ethical and developmental state, and strengthening municipalities to bring them up to standard regarding service delivery matters such as water provision, refuse removal and others.

“All these are essential. The professional public service issue is old rhetoric.

“I hope they have new ideas. It’s a pity that municipalities have been left to deteriorate to these levels.

“The president is talking about repair work which is a result of years of neglect.” — Additional reporting by TimesLIVE

The Herald