Ahead of Ramaphosa's 2026 Sona: the facts on jobs, services and more
On 12 February 2026, South African president Cyril Ramaphosa will deliver the annual state of the nation address (Sona), outlining where the country stands and what comes next.
From jobs and electricity to crime and service delivery, many of the claims he is likely to make are based on data already in the public domain.
In this factsheet, we lay out those figures before the speech, showing what has changed, what hasn't and what to keep in mind as you listen.
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While Ramaphosa often gives headline figures for service delivery, a closer look at the data on electricity, water and sanitation - and a review of recent reporting on these topics - shows uneven access to basic services.
For example, just over 90% of South African households had access to electricity in 2024, up slightly from 89.6% in 2022. But Gauteng had the lowest share of connected households at 83.9%, down from 87.2% in 2002. Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) previously told Africa Check that the decline was likely due to a sharp increase in the number of households in Gauteng due to "high levels of migration into the province".
Access to piped water was 87.7% in 2024. Four provinces saw declines between 2002 and 2024. Limpopo had the sharpest drop, from 73.8% in 2002 to 62.9%.
Nearly 34% of South African households reported water supply disruptions lasting at least two days. Interruptions were highest in Mpumalanga (66.2%) and the Northern Cape (58%), and lowest in the Western Cape (5.6%) and Gauteng (23.4%).
There was also a slight decline in access to improved sanitation - from 83.3% of households in 2023 to 83.1% in 2024. And there are still households - almost 160,000 - that use bucket toilets.
Of the 746,110 students who sat the school leaving exams in 2025, 656,415 passed - a record pass rate of 87.98%. The president is likely to highlight this as he did in 2025.
But the percentage of students who were enrolled and then obtained the national senior certificate is often seen as a more meaningful measure. Of those in grade 10 in 2023, only half (49%) made it to grade 12 in 2025.
The unemployment rate was 31.9% in the third quarter of 2025, according to the latest available data. Using the expanded definition, which includes people who have stopped looking for work, that figure climbs to 42.4%.
There are also stark divides along racial lines. In the third quarter of 2025, 35.8% of black South Africans were unemployed. The figure was 22.1% for coloured people, 13.9% for Indian/Asian people and 8.1% for white people.
According to Stats SA, black South Africans have consistently faced the highest unemployment rates over the past decade.
In 2024/25, the government provided 45,788 serviced sites and 35,457 newly built houses, for a total of 81,245 housing opportunities.
A "serviced site" is a plot of land that is connected to water, sanitation and electricity. Beneficiaries must build their own houses.
As of September 2024, 3.3 million households or individuals were on the national housing needs register, the waiting list for government housing.
South Africa's gross domestic product (GDP) - the total value of goods and services produced - grew by 0.6% between 2023 and 2024. This was mainly driven by increased agricultural production, Stats SA said.
A commonly used indicator of financial health is a country's total debt relative to its GDP. According to the treasury, South Africa's debt was 76.1% of its GDP in 2024/25. This figure is expected to stabilise at 76.2% in 2025/26, before declining.
On its own, a high debt-to-GDP ratio is not necessarily a crisis. Overall financial health is also influenced by factors such as creditworthiness - whether a country is equipped to repay its loans - among others.
In December 2025, 19.1 million social grants were paid to 12.1 million beneficiaries.
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The president often confuses the number of recipients with the number of grants. But some people receive more than one grant. For example, someone could get both a child support grant and a disability grant.
The 19.1 million figure does not include the number of Covid-19 social relief of distress (SRD) grants, introduced in May 2020 This grant is only for people who receive no other state support.
About 9 million individuals receive the SRD grant each month, meaning the total number of social grant beneficiaries is 21.1 million.
Data released by Stats SA in December 2025 showed that in 2023, 37.9% of the population lived below the lower-bound poverty line - set at R1,300 per person per month. This is about 23.2 million people.
Of these individuals, 60% lived in the KwaZulu-Natal, Eastern Cape, North West and Limpopo provinces.
Poverty continues to affect children and women disproportionately.
Nearly 11 million people live in "extreme poverty", surviving on less than R777 per month.
