The South African Government of National Unity entered its second year in May 2026 facing its most consequential cohesion test since formation. The ANC, DA, and Freedom Front Plus — the three largest coalition members — have publicly disagreed on Black Economic Empowerment, land restitution, the Expropriation Act, and the direction of fiscal policy. The Phala Phala impeachment proceedings now compound those tensions with a question about the presidency itself.
The 2026 State of the Nation Address in February gave Ramaphosa a moment to articulate a unifying framework around inclusive growth, poverty reduction, and an ethical, capable, developmental state. His delivery worked at the rhetorical level: even commentators who entered the address expecting fragmentation noted that the President avoided the most contentious flashpoints — the Expropriation Act, the “Kill the Boer” chant, farm-murder classification — and steered the conversation toward operational priorities like the Medium-Term Development Plan, energy reform, and the planned national dialogue.
The substantive policy fights, however, have not gone away. The DA and FF Plus have continued to demand the scrapping or fundamental restructuring of Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment. The ANC has continued to defend it as essential to redress. Opposition parties outside the GNU — the MK Party, EFF, and others — have used the impeachment moment to question whether the coalition is governing or merely holding together. The next quarter will test whether the GNU produces visible delivery — on water, on municipal dysfunction, on the energy transition — fast enough to outpace the political turbulence around it.
Sources: South African Parliament; Daily Maverick; BusinessDay; Bloomberg, February–May 2026.