The President may come to Parliament on Thursday with plans for the economy, infrastructure and local government, education and the usual panoply, but the challenge is more than technical. It is also political.

While the majority of South Africans are busying themselves with real life, President Cyril Ramaphosa will deliver his annual State of the Nation Address (Sona) tomorrow evening (Thursday, 10 February 2026).

In 2019, Ramaphosa stood before Parliament quoting Ben Okri:

We could use the new eraTo clean our eyes,To see the world differently,To see ourselves more clearly.

There has sadly been no "new era", even as we see ourselves more clearly - a democracy struggling with deep inequality, wavering institutions and unacceptably high levels of corruption. After a decade of State Capture under former president Jacob Zuma we are still picking up the pieces and dealing with fresh corruption daily. Yet, despite the politicians, our country also remains one in which the hopeful rise every day and democracy is made and remade in communities across our seemingly intractable divides. How else would we survive in this bewildering place?

Ramaphosa comes to Parliament leading a Government of National Unity (GNU) which holds the state together with differing levels of effectiveness. There have been a few moments where the DA has threatened to walk out of the GNU. But there is a co-dependency between the DA and the ANC which neither will...