A year after bold promises, Cyril Ramaphosa's weak spots are clear: taps and safety. The rest of the Cabinet tells a better story.

Anything President Cyril Ramaphosa says in his State of the Nation Address on Thursday evening, 12 February, will be overshadowed by the new national symbol: the water tanker.

Johannesburg, the country's economic heartland, faces a near system collapse, denied by the City's leaders but clear to its people, who took to the streets to protest this week. It's a big city, so it attracts big attention, but its water story is repeated across the country. The water protests and the water tankers defined the state of the nation this week.

The ANC's biggest post-apartheid gain, extending running water to people's homes or yards, is being rolled back by patronage and wasteful spending, which has funnelled infrastructure funds into salaries or tenderpreneur pockets.

In 2025, Ramaphosa said: "Many people in our cities, towns and villages are experiencing more and more frequent water shortages as a result of failing water infrastructure. It is impossible to live without water, and it is impossible for the economy to grow without water. We are therefore taking a series of decisive actions to resolve the water crisis, to enable our people to get water where they live, whether in townships or rural areas."

A year on,...