{"id":95753,"date":"2026-02-12T09:14:11","date_gmt":"2026-02-12T09:14:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/ramaphosa-on-state-of-the-nation-optimism-and-struggle"},"modified":"2026-02-12T10:50:27","modified_gmt":"2026-02-12T10:50:27","slug":"ramaphosa-on-state-of-the-nation-optimism-and-struggle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/ramaphosa-on-state-of-the-nation-optimism-and-struggle","title":{"rendered":"Ramaphosa on State of the Nation: Optimism and Struggle"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600\"><strong>Africa-Press &#8211; South-Africa. <\/strong><\/span>President Cyril Ramaphosa said that the real state of the nation is a balance of optimism and struggle.<\/p>\n<p>In an exclusive interview with <b>Eyewitness News<\/b> and CapeTalk in Nelson Mandela\u2019s prison house on Wednesday, Ramaphosa admitted that although his State of the Nation Address (SONA) speech may be done, the country\u2019s hard slog is far from over.<\/p>\n<p>The president\u2019s visit to the Drakenstein Correctional Facility coincided with the 36th anniversary of Nelson Mandela\u2019s release from prison.<\/p>\n<p>Ramaphosa describes the tour of the prison house where Mandela was kept in the months leading up to his release as poignant and standing in this space on the eve of another SONA is not lost on him.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe past 10 years have been very difficult, and our people have gone through great challenges. We need to reflect on all that, but we also need to reflect on what the future pertains.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Ramaphosa said the roadmap for the government in 2026 will reflect hits and misses.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s undisputed, many people do say that we\u2019re turning the corner and things are beginning to look a lot better. But we shouldn\u2019t be too optimistic because there are still huge problems that we have to deal with.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Rested and relaxed, Ramaphosa will address the nation from the City Hall at 7pm on Thursday night.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI want to be ready to deliver the speech. The speech is done and dusted.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>For More News And Analysis About <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">South-Africa<\/span> Follow <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Africa-Press<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Africa-Press &#8211; South-Africa. President Cyril Ramaphosa said that the real state of the nation is a balance of optimism and struggle. In an exclusive interview with Eyewitness News and CapeTalk in Nelson Mandela\u2019s prison house on Wednesday, Ramaphosa admitted that although his State of the Nation Address (SONA) speech may be done, the country\u2019s hard [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":95752,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,7,12],"tags":[275],"class_list":["post-95753","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-head-lines","category-policy","tag-south-africa-2"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Ramaphosa on State of the Nation: Optimism and Struggle - South Africa<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"President Cyril Ramaphosa said that the real state of the nation is a balance of optimism and struggle. 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