WATCH | ‘Army good, promises bad’ — Malema roasts Ramaphosa

Malema

Cape Town – EFF leader Julius Malema has criticised President Cyril Ramaphosa for failing to deliver on promises, describing the 2026 State of the Nation Address (SONA) as a repetition of old pledges and an election campaign launchpad.

Malema welcomed the deployment of the army to restore law and order but slammed Ramaphosa’s water pledges, saying billions promised have not improved access for ordinary South Africans.

“I appreciated the intervention by the army in the areas where gangsterism has taken over the streets of our townships. And that is a confirmation that the South African Police Services has dismally failed. The president is just scared to say they have lost confidence in the South African Police Services, hence the army. And we are happy that the army is coming. We are going to restore law and order. The rest of the things that he is talking about, he has been saying these things. Today the difference is that he is saying them with energy,” Malema said.

He also accused the government of relying on “task teams” instead of taking responsibility and argued that the president lacks the capacity within the Government of National Unity (GNU) to address these issues.

“… This thing of task teams – task team after task team – is a person who is failing to execute their own responsibility, and they shift it to other people. So it’s confirmation that he doesn’t have the necessary capacity in the GNU to deal with issues that he wants to deal with. So we are here again listening to a man who is using a government platform during an elation year to launch a campaign for his political party – that’s what we have been subjected to here, Most of the things we have been listening to, we heard them before.”

Meanwhile, Ramaphosa outlined seven priorities at SONA: economic recovery, job creation, poverty reduction, infrastructure investment, ending load shedding, harnessing mineral wealth, and building capable governance, projecting optimism about South Africa’s future despite opposition criticism.

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