Nearly eight years into his presidency, Cyril Ramaphosa faces a stark verdict on his governance record: transformative success in energy reform overshadowed by widespread failures in water management, local government, job creation, and health care delivery.
An assessment of 10 key pledges from his 2025 State of the Nation Address reveals a president who has fixed bureaucratic processes but failed to improve life on the ground for millions of South Africans. While energy reform stands as a genuine achievement, delivering the country from crippling power cuts, almost every other major promise tells a story of stalled delivery and unrealized ambitions.
The divergence between policy reform and tangible results has become the defining characteristic of Ramaphosa’s tenure, raising questions about whether administrative improvements can translate into meaningful change for ordinary citizens.
Energy Success Stands Alone Amid Reform Struggles
Ramaphosa’s most decisive achievement remains ending load shedding — the rotating blackouts that crippled Africa’s most industrialized economy and cut economic growth at its knees. By appointing Electricity Minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa and lifting the cap on independent power production, the president enacted his most significant policy intervention.
The reform has ushered in a new generation of power producers, with renewable energy now playing a decisive role in the country’s electricity mix. South Africa appears to have convincingly moved past the era of power cuts that damaged business confidence and drove investors away.
“Government commits to completing energy sector reform, implementing the Electricity Regulation Amendment Act, building a competitive electricity market, and mobilizing private investment in transmission to ensure long-term energy security,” Ramaphosa pledged in his State of the Nation address.
The transformation has sparked cautious optimism. For the first time in years, the economy is pointing in a better direction, and both global and local sentiment has improved. Yet experts warn of potential rollbacks by the incumbent monopoly Eskom, and electricity costs remain prohibitively high for many consumers and businesses.
Nevertheless, on energy reform, credit must be given where it’s due — this represents the administration’s clearest success story.
Municipal Collapse Threatens Service Delivery Nationwide
While energy reform flourished, local government deteriorated into what auditors describe as systematic collapse. The president’s promise to establish professionally managed, ring-fenced water and electricity utilities in municipalities, review the municipal funding model, and develop a new White Paper on Local Government has yielded minimal results on the ground.
In a local government election year, the verdict is unambiguous: by any metric, and with the exception of one metro and a handful of councils, the system faces either shambles or systematic collapse, according to the Auditor-General’s report for 2023-24.
The numbers paint a grim picture. Municipalities owe state power utility Eskom more than 100 billion rand ($5.5 billion), with no indication these debt levels will decrease. Despite 68.4 billion rand allocated for infrastructure, citizens report little visible impact. Auditors identified 446 material irregularities — the most serious budget infractions involving financial loss, misuse of public assets, and substantial harm to the public.
Water stability has reached crisis levels nationwide, and basic municipal infrastructure continues degrading. At the local level, the state apparatus appears broken, and political alignments are shifting in response.
Coalition governance has complicated matters further. Across South Africa, 66 hung councils operate under coalition arrangements, with mixed results. In the eight metropolitan areas, coalition-run municipalities have experienced declines rather than improvements during this era of power-sharing.
While a White Paper on local government reform exists and attempts policy changes to address these issues, observers note a troubling lack of urgency. In Johannesburg, still the nation’s economic nerve center, a presidential intervention by Ramaphosa achieved superficial improvements ahead of the G20 summit but failed to produce systemic change.
Cooperative Governance Minister Velenkosini Hlabisa, the political head of local government, has shown energy and is expected to publish a revised white paper in March 2026. The metro services reform Ramaphosa promised is proceeding, but at such a glacial pace that meaningful impacts on service delivery could take decades.
National Water Crisis Deepens Despite Policy Reform
The government’s pledge to fast-track major water projects, complete the National Water Resource Infrastructure Agency, introduce licensing and enforcement for water service providers, and unlock large-scale investment in water infrastructure has produced policy reform without practical results.
Water policy reform is advancing. If successful, the South African National Water Resources Infrastructure Agency could remove debilitating rent extraction from water infrastructure investment. Success will depend on appointing the best people and granting them autonomy to reform water provision. But completion remains distant.
Meanwhile, taps run dry across the country with alarming frequency, except in a few municipalities and metros. Water protests have become commonplace as desperate communities take to the streets. The Department of Water and Sanitation frequently resorts to victim-blaming rather than addressing infrastructure failures.
In Gauteng, South Africa’s economic heartland, government officials cite over-consumption as the problem. However, closer examination of the data reveals that wastage stems from infrastructure failure — a political failing rooted in placing cadres rather than competent professionals in charge of water systems across municipalities.
The disconnect between policy development and service delivery exemplifies the administration’s broader challenge: reforming systems while failing to improve daily life for citizens.
Bureaucratic Reform Advances Unevenly Across Government Tiers
Ramaphosa’s promise to build a capable, professional state through strengthening the Public Service Commission, reforming senior appointments, and introducing a graduate recruitment scheme to attract skilled young professionals shows uneven progress across government levels.
The commitment carries coded political significance: ending cadre deployment and professionalizing appointments. While possibly necessary in 1994 following apartheid’s end, cadre deployment became so corrupted over decades that the Commission of Inquiry into State Capture identified it as a key enabler of corruption.
Professor Ivor Chipkin has characterized the Public Service Amendment Bill as a “historic turning point” in public administration. This draft legislation shifts appointment decisions from politicians to directors-general or department heads.
At the national level, some progress is evident, with talented bureaucrats assuming positions. However, at provincial and local levels, cadre deployment remains the dominant practice. The impacts are clear: most provincial and local governments struggle to deliver basic development in a middle-income country possessing Africa’s wealthiest fiscus.
Digital Government Initiative Falters Despite Presidential Claims
Government’s investment in digital public infrastructure, relaunching gov.za, and implementing a digital identity system to enable citizens to access services “anytime, anywhere” has produced mixed results that fall short of transformative change.
The latest Operation Vulindlela report — from a high-level state reform initiative in the Presidency — states: “The MzansiXchange pilot, which aims to establish a data exchange to enable sharing of data across government, entered implementation following its official launch on Oct. 9, 2025. Engagements commenced with Sassa to link government payments to verified accounts and store-of-value wallets, with the objective of reducing failed payments and fraud.”
Some improvements have materialized in obtaining identity documents and passports more speedily, particularly through bank partnerships. However, even the State of the Nation online dashboard — intended to embody presidential accountability and track annual address commitments — no longer functions. The country’s identity system remains far from smart by any reasonable standard. Most citizens still navigate a paper-based state apparatus.
Infrastructure Investment Shows Tangible Progress
The government’s commitment to spend more than 940 billion rand on infrastructure over three years, including 375 billion rand by state-owned enterprises, and unlock 100 billion rand in infrastructure financing through partnerships and new public-private partnership regulations represents one area of visible advancement.
Major projects demonstrate concrete progress. The Polihali Dam, part of Phase 2 of the Lesotho Highlands Water Project, the Mthentu bridge between Lusikisiki and Port Edward, and other significant infrastructure developments show the promise is materializing.
Both Eskom and Transnet have secured borrowing to fund massive grid, rail, and port infrastructure. Challenges persist — the national electricity transmission company setup faces delays, and Transnet requires substantial fixes, as evidenced by the proliferation of trucks on highways. Nevertheless, progress is undeniable.
Job Creation Promises Yield Short-Term Gains, Not Sustainable Employment
Ramaphosa’s pledge to expand public employment programs, scale up the Presidential Employment Stimulus, finalize modern industrial policy, and drive growth in green manufacturing, digital services, agriculture, mining, and tourism presents a complex picture of achievement and limitation.
The president has become South Africa’s largest employer, particularly of young people. The presidential youth employment stimulus offers valuable opportunities for young people to establish themselves, working with various partners. The program has garnered global awards for its innovative approach.
According to government reports, 1.91 million young people have received opportunities, while 5.64 million are registered on SAYouth.mobi, which facilitates learning and earning for youth.
However, these short-term public works positions do not constitute sustainable employment or business opportunities arising from a vibrant, growing economy. The fundamental challenge remains: creating permanent jobs through economic expansion rather than temporary government programs.
The 20 billion rand annual Transformation Fund, established for five years to support Black-owned businesses and small and medium enterprises, alongside fast-tracked procurement reforms benefiting women, youth, and people with disabilities, launched with partial capitalization through an Afreximbank loan. However, business stakeholder support remains tepid, limiting the fund’s potential impact.
Social Protection Expands Without Fundamental Reform
The promise to use the Social Relief of Distress Grant as the basis for a sustainable income-support system for unemployed people, with fragmented welfare programs integrated into a single support pathway, has not advanced toward a basic income guarantee.
What South Africa does possess — and of which the country should take greater pride — is a substantial system of social solidarity through grants to those in need. Between 8.7 million and 9 million people receive a 370 rand monthly Social Relief of Distress Grant.
While this represents meaningful support for millions of vulnerable citizens, it falls short of the comprehensive income-support system envisioned in the presidential pledge. The administration has maintained existing support structures without achieving transformative reform.
National Health Insurance Initiative Stalls Amid Opposition
The government’s commitment to advance preparatory work for National Health Insurance, including electronic health records, provider accreditation and governance structures, alongside major investment in hospitals, clinics and health-system quality, faces insurmountable resistance.
The proposed National Health Insurance lacks buy-in not only from business but from the 9.17 million people covered by medical aid belonging to 71 registered schemes, and from progressive civil society organizations.
Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana advocates for negotiations rather than court battles, but this appeal has gained little traction. South Africa desperately needs quality public health care that all citizens trust, breaking the chokehold that expensive medical insurance maintains over regular people. However, the National Health Insurance as currently conceived does not appear to be that solution.
The president appears to be deferring this contentious issue, effectively acknowledging defeat on this front.
System Reform Without Street-Level Results
Nearly eight years into his tenure, Cyril Ramaphosa’s presidency presents a study in contrasts: genuine achievement in energy reform, meaningful progress in infrastructure investment, and bureaucratic improvements at the national level set against widespread failures in local government, water provision, sustainable job creation, and health care transformation.
The assessment reveals a president who has fixed systems but failed the streets — reforming processes while leaving daily citizen experiences largely unchanged or deteriorated. Energy reform stands as the singular transformative success, ending load shedding and restoring business confidence. Infrastructure spending shows tangible progress in major projects.
Yet these achievements cannot obscure the mounting failures. Municipal collapse threatens service delivery nationwide. The water crisis deepens despite policy reform. Employment programs create temporary positions rather than sustainable jobs. National Health Insurance faces insurmountable opposition. Digital government initiatives falter despite presidential claims of success.
At provincial and local levels, cadre deployment continues undermining service delivery, while professional appointments advance only at the national tier. The gap between policy development and implementation widens, particularly in areas most critical to citizens’ daily lives.
Growing confidence and an economy pointing in a better direction for the first time in years offer hope. Yet in a local government election year, voters face a stark reality: the system remains broken at the level where it matters most. Water taps run dry, municipalities collapse under debt, and basic infrastructure crumbles despite billions in allocated funding.
Ramaphosa promised reform, professionalism, and renewal. He has delivered on reform — but primarily at the administrative and policy level. The professionalization of the state advances unevenly. Renewal remains elusive for the millions of South Africans still experiencing deteriorating local services, unreliable water supply, and limited economic opportunities.
The president’s singular victory in energy reform, while significant, cannot compensate for the accumulated weight of unrealized promises across critical sectors. With election pressures mounting and patience thinning, the administration faces a fundamental challenge: translating bureaucratic improvements into tangible benefits that reach ordinary South Africans where they live, work, and raise their families.
Whether Ramaphosa can bridge the gap between system reform and street-level results may determine not only his political legacy but South Africa’s trajectory as it navigates profound economic and social challenges in the years ahead.
