President Cyril Ramaphosa is set to deliver the State of the Nation Address (SONA) on February 6, 2025, in Cape Town City Hall. The SONA will take place before the two houses of Parliament under the theme “A nation that works for all.”

The president will highlight achievements, flag challenges, and outline interventions for the coming financial year, deliberating on South Africa’s domestic affairs as well as its continental and international relations.

Tonight’s SONA is set to be different as it’s the first State Of The Nations Address under the Government of National Unity (GNU) and the first SONA where the ruling party, the ANC, got below 50% in the 2024 National Election.

The 2024 SONA, the year of Tintswalo, was received with mixed emotions, as South Africans felt that President Ramaphosa didn’t give practical solutions to the daily challenges that plague South Africans and are a threat to domestic affairs, which include high crime rates, unemployment rates, poverty, corruption, inequality, service delivery, and an unstable GNU.

The crime rate 

South Africa’s crime statistics have shown a decrease in murders; however, an increase in attempted murder and contact sexual offences is due to the level of crime. Johannesburg townships are taking matters into their own hands by installing gates to control access due to crime.

According to SAPS Crime Statistics second quarter (2024/2025):

Murder

In the second quarter of 2024/2025, there were 6,945 murders, a 5.8% decrease from the same period in 2023/2024.

Attempted murder 

In the second quarter of 2024/2025, there was an increase of 2.2% in attempted murder. In the fiscal year 2023/2024, attempted murder saw the largest percentage increase at 13.2%.

Contact sexual offences 

In the second quarter of 2024/2025, there was a 1.2% rise in context sexual offences.

Contact crimes

In the first quarter of 2024, contact crimes increased by 3,831 from the previous year. In the fiscal year 2023/2024, the total number of contact crimes was 678,701, which is an increase of around 3.8% from the previous year. The crime hotspots are Gauteng, Western Cape, and KwaZulu-Natal.

The emergence of gated communities in the township illustrates that there’s little or no effort to fight crime in South Africa.