Our message to the President ahead of SONA

The Institute for Economic Justice (IEJ) asserts that while South Africa saw modest GDP growth of 1.2% in 2025 and improvements in energy and logistics, these gains have not reduced high unemployment, poverty, or food insecurity. The IEJ calls for a shift from market-centric policies to a developmental macroeconomic framework that prioritizes industrial policy, progressive taxation, and expanded social security to achieve inclusive growth.

• South Africa's economy grew by a projected 1.2% in 2025, but this is insufficient to address unemployment, and GDP per capita remains lower than the 2010 baseline established by the National Development Plan (NDP).
• Improvements in 'network industries'—energy, freight rail, and ports—have helped the economy capitalize on a commodity boom, though households still face 'load reduction' and rising energy costs.
• Unemployment remains critical, with the expanded unemployment rate reaching 42.4% (12.5 million people) by September 2025, and 40% to 45% of young people categorized as not in employment, education, or training (NEET).
• Poverty and food insecurity have worsened; 66.7% of the population now lives above the upper-bound poverty line, and the number of severely food-insecure people rose by 2.8 million between 2019 and 2023 to reach 8 million.
• Current social grants are inadequate to meet basic nutritional needs; the child support grant of R560 is significantly lower than the calculated cost of R948.18 for a basic diet, and the SRD grant is less than 44% of the food poverty line.
• The IEJ proposes a developmental monetary transmission channel where the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) adopts a dual policy rate regime for developmental investment and recapitalizes public banks like the DBSA and IDC.
• Investment rates in 2025 fell below 15%, which is far below the 20% to 25% required for sustained growth, and current infrastructure spending via PPPs is well below the R800 billion annual target of the NDP.

APA

Institute for Economic Justice (2026). Our message to the President ahead of SONA. https://iej.org.za/press-room/statements/statement-our-message-to-the-president-ahead-of-sona/

Chicago

Institute for Economic Justice. Our message to the President ahead of SONA. 2026. https://iej.org.za/press-room/statements/statement-our-message-to-the-president-ahead-of-sona/.

Wikipedia

{{cite press release |author=Institute for Economic Justice |title=Our message to the President ahead of SONA |date=9 February 2026 |url=https://iej.org.za/press-room/statements/statement-our-message-to-the-president-ahead-of-sona/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@misc{instituteforeconomicjustice2026our, author = {{Institute for Economic Justice}}, title = {{Our message to the President ahead of SONA}}, publisher = {Institute for Economic Justice}, year = {2026}, month = feb, url = {https://iej.org.za/press-room/statements/statement-our-message-to-the-president-ahead-of-sona/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }