‘Navigating rapid change’: verifying South African president Cyril Ramaphosa’s 2025 state of the nation address

Ramaphosa’s claim is supported by several news reports. Despite delays due to community protests, construction of the Mtentu Bridge is ongoing. 

The bridge is part of a project that aims to open up the coastal route between the towns of Port St Johns and Port Edward, and provide a “safer, flatter and faster link” between Durban and the industrial centres of East London and Gqeberha.

But here’s what Ramaphosa didn’t mention – he promised completion of the bridge during his 2023 state of the nation address. Two years later, the commitment remains unmet. 

South Africa’s Just Energy Transition Investment Plan (JET IP) outlines how to fund the shift from coal to cleaner energy while still stimulating economic growth.

The South African presidency reported pledges totalling US$13.8 billion in a December 2024 press statement. The transition plan reports a funding breakdown every quarter. Its partners include the African Development Bank, the World Bank and various countries.   

The pledges consist of loans, grants, commercial debt and equity, and export credits. But the partnership has been criticised for allocating more funds to loans than grants.

South Africa’s visa and permitting backlog reached more than 306,000 unprocessed applications in 2024, some dating back almost a decade, according to the Department of Home Affairs. Leon Schreiber formed what the department has dubbed a “Backlog Bomb Squad” to resolve the issue, shortly after his appointment as minister of the department in mid-2024. 

While figures have not yet been released in official reporting, Schreiber confirmed in January 2025 that the backlog had been cleared, celebrating the occasion in a 3 February speech. 

While the claim is mostly accurate, not all of these work opportunities are new jobs, as one might expect. The Presidential Employment Stimulus (PES) was launched during the Covid pandemic to offset its economic impact. It has been extended to March 2025.

According to the PES dashboard, 2.17 million “opportunities” were created between October 2020 and December 2024. Of these, only 1.8 million are “job opportunities”. The rest fall under “jobs retained” and livelihoods supported”. 

Kate Philip, programme lead for the PES initiative, confirmed that this data is accurate up to December 2024.

The service sector is the part of an economy that provides intangible goods and services rather than physical products.

The World Bank estimated that in 2023 the service sector contributed almost two thirds (62.6%) of South Africa’s gross domestic product). This includes business services, trade, transport, communications and government services.

Dr Neva Makgetla, senior economist at the Trade and Industrial Policy Strategies research institute in Pretoria, told Africa Check that the 2023 estimates were the latest available until new data is released in April. 

A 2018 study from the University of Cape Town noted that “the South African economy is not only services-based but has become increasingly so over the last 15 years”. 

In 2024, Statistics South Africa recorded 8,919,370 tourists visiting South Africa from other countries – close to 9 million, as Ramaphosa claimed. 

Measured by tourist numbers, the sector has grown substantially since 2021. Three times as many tourists visited South Africa in 2024 than in 2020 and 2021, when movement was restricted due to the Covid pandemic.  

The social wage helps improve living conditions for low-income workers and their families by providing basic services, education, healthcare and grants for those earning below a set income level.

In 2024/25, the National Treasury allocated R1.23 billion to the social wage, making up 61.1% of the total budget. Despite limited funds, the government said it would continue to prioritise these services.

Once again, the president confused the number of grant recipients with the number of grants.

As of December 2024, 19,235,970 grants were paid out, according to the latest data from Sassa, which manages social benefits.  

This total excludes the Covid-19 social relief of distress (SRD) grant, introduced in May 2020. Only those not receiving other state support qualify for this grant.

At the end of March 2024, about 9 million individuals received this grant. This is the latest figure available. Along with the 19,137,524 other grants paid that month, this totals just over 28.1 million grants – likely Ramaphosa’s figure. 

Except, some recipients receive more than one grant. For example, someone could receive both a child support grant as well as a disability grant.

In March 2024, there were 11,988,902 social grant beneficiaries and 9 million SRD grant recipients, meaning that a total of 20.9 million individuals received a grant in that month.

Due to his mistake, Ramaphosa overestimated the number of beneficiaries by more than 7 million people.

Of the 705,291 learners who wrote the 2024 school-leaving exams, 87.26% passed. This was an improvement from the 82.9% pass rate the previous year, which was also a record.

While the matric pass rate has been rising since 2021, challenges remain, including high dropout rates, overcrowded classrooms and low mathematics enrolment.

Of the 705,921 learners who sat the exams in 2024, 47.8% (337,158) achieved bachelor passes, the minimum level qualifying admittance to university. This is about seven percentage points higher than the previous year. 

Data from the Department of Basic Education shows that the number of learners achieving bachelor passes has steadily increased since 1993.  

95-95-95 is a United Nations initiative to end the Aids epidemic as a public health threat by 2030. The target is for 95% of all people with HIV to know their status, for 95% of those people to be on treatment, and for 95% of those on treatment to have suppressed the virus in their bodies. 

South Africa missed an earlier target of 90-90-90 by 2020. By July 2022, it had only reached 94-78-89.

The health department reported progress to 95-79-93 in March 2024. 

In January 2025, health minister Aaron Motsoaledi gave the figure as 96-79-94, which is what Ramaphosa announced. The minister also quoted these figures in a World Aids Day speech in December 2024.

This claim is in line with figures provided by South Africa’s minister of health. 

On 21 January 2025, US president Donald Trump paused all US foreign aid projects for at least 90 days, including an HIV/Aids prevention programme called the President's Emergency Plan for Aids Relief, or Pepfar, which sends billions of rand each year to South Africa.

The vast majority – 74% – of HIV/Aids funding comes from the South African government. The next largest funding source is Pepfar, which provides 17%, while international financing partnership the Global Fund gives 7%. 

This doesn’t mean that South Africa’s HIV/Aids response will be unaffected. In 2023, representatives of legal advocacy group Section27 expressed concern that planned South African budget cuts “threaten the hard-won gains we have made and can make toward overcoming this epidemic”. 

For more details, read our in-depth fact-check on this topic here.

These figures are accurate. 

The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) is an international watchdog. South Africa was placed on its grey list after a 2021 review revealed weaknesses in combating money laundering and terrorist financing. The FATF developed a 22-item action plan for South Africa, and 16 items have been completed.  

However, the original deadline for all items was February 2025, suggesting the country’s progress has not been as quick as initially planned.