SONA: State of the Nation Address 2024
A Nation that Works for All

State of the Nation  2025

A Nation that Works for All

Development and services

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SONA Highlights

Investing in education and skills development

Implement mother tongue based bilingual education

Addressing asset poverty

Enable low-cost property development, including backyard housing

Making cities work

Restore remaining passenger rail corridors and stations to full service

Investing in education and skills development

Investing in education and skills development
Investing in education and skills development

We are investing in education and skills development to empower South Africans and give them the tools they need to succeed. This includes improving the quality of education, expanding access to early childhood development and providing bursaries and loans for higher education.

  • Expand access to early childhood development ]()for every child, through registering and formalising existing ECD centres and ensuring that they have the facilities, training and material that they need to provide quality early learning.
  • Implementation of mother tongue bilingual education for improved literacy. 
  • Ensure schools are conducive to education, with enough classrooms, safe and appropriate sanitation facilities, clean water and a daily meal for those who need it.
  • Expand vocational and technical training. The Funza Lushaka Bursary Scheme will continue to prioritise students who want to pursue a teaching career in the Foundation Phase. 
  • Take a demand-led approach to skills development. This will combine formal learning with job training to ensure that the economy has the skills it needs and increasing the production of artisans through TVET colleges. 
  • Implement the Basic Education Laws Amendment Act, which is pivotal for ensuring that education is accessible and inclusive for all South Africans.  This year, the Minister of Basic Education will introduce national policy, norms and standards and regulations to empower all partners in basic education to support the implementation of the Act. 
  • Implement the comprehensive student funding model for higher education to address the needs of the "missing middle”. This will support approximately 10,000 students in the 
first year. 
Improving education Basic Education

Transforming healthcare services

Transforming healthcare services
Transforming healthcare services

We are working to transform healthcare services and ensure that all South Africans have access to quality healthcare. This includes building new hospitals and clinics, training healthcare workers and implementing the National Health Insurance (NHI) system.

  • Prepare for implementing the National Health Insurance to ensure all have access to equitable, accessible and affordable quality health care. 

    This includes developing the first phase of a single electronic health record, preparatory work to establish Ministerial Advisory Committees on health technologies and health care benefits,and an accreditation framework for health service providers. 

  • Strengthen the health system and improve the quality of care. A vital part of this is the modernisation, improvement and maintenance of existing health facilities and construction of new hospitals and clinics. 
  • Focus on patient experience through reduced waiting times and improved staff attitudes, including the training of healthcare personnel.
  • Use technology to improve health care management.
  • Achieve HIV/AIDS treatment targets of 95-95-95 – we will launch a massive campaign to look for an additional 1.1 million people who are not on treatment
National Department of Health NHI Bill

Addressing asset poverty

Addressing asset poverty

We are working to address asset poverty and ensure that all South Africans have the opportunity to own assets, such as land and housing. This includes providing land restitution, building affordable housing and supporting small businesses.

  • Prioritise providing title deeds for land and subsidised housing, clearing the backlog and turning homes into household assets.
  • Review housing policy to enable people to live closer to economic opportunities, including redesigning demand-side subsidies, and directing more funding and appropriate support that prioritises rental, social housing and rent-to-own options.
  • Review land use, building and other regulations to enable low-cost property development, including backyard housing to deliver housing at scale while turning our cities into engines of growth and opportunity.
  • Release more underutilised state properties for affordable housing development.
  • Work with provinces and metros to reclaim buildings that have been hijacked in the city centres and repurpose them for public use. 
The Restitution of Land Rights Act National Housing Programme