Deputy Minister in the Presidency: Nonceba Mhlauli Presidency Budget Debate 2026/27

Speech by the Deputy Minister in the Presidency, Hon. Nonceba Mhlauli, MP, on the occasion of the Presidency Budget Vote 2026/2027, National Assembly

Madame Speaker,

Your Excellency, President Cyril Ramaphosa,

Ministers and Deputy Ministers,

Honourable Chief Whip,

Honourable Members of the House,

Fellow South Africans,

Good evening,

I rise in support of Budget Vote: The Presidency. I do so with a clear understanding of the moment we are in as a country. 

South Africans are not asking government for more slogans. They are asking for work that can be seen, felt and trusted. 

They are asking for a government that delivers on its promises; a government that does not work in fragments; and a government that is able to move from planning to delivery with urgency and discipline. 

Essentially, South Africans want a Government that works for all, especially its young people who constitute 59% of the country’s total population. 

The youth of this country have for the past 50 years since June 16 1976, and beyond; demonstrated that they do not lack ideas, talent, and courage to stand up for their future. What they lack is access. 

Through the Presidential Youth Employment Intervention (PYEI) as launched by President Ramaphosa in 2020, we are actively expanding that door to access. The recently released Q3 results for 2025/26 demonstrate real, quantifiable momentum in our drive to transition young people from learning to earning:

• In the third quarter alone, the PYEI facilitated 294,530 new earning opportunities. 

• By the end of Q3, more than 5.77 million young people had registered on the SA Youth platform, and over 4.8 million on the Employment Services of South Africa (ESSA) system. 

• Since its inception, the PYEI has facilitated access to more than 2.36 million earning opportunities.

• Importantly, over 70% of the opportunities accessed through SA Youth have been taken up by young women, helping close historical gender gaps.

• The Jobs Boost Outcomes Fund exceeded its targets this quarter, enrolling over 9,170 young people and successfully placing more than 7,200 into employment. This is funding real outcomes. 

• The Revitalised National Youth Service continues its rapid expansion, having placed 132,784 young people in paid service opportunities to date, with additional 100 000 opportunities currently available on SA Youth.Mobi. We therefore call upon youth between the ages of 18 and 35 to participate in this programme focused on community service, skills development and gain meaningful work experience. 

The success of the Presidential Youth Employment Initiative (PYEI) demonstrates the impact of deliberate policy choices made by the ANC-led government. 

The Youth Employment Service (YES), a private sector led initiative in partnership with the Presidency, has created over 228 000 youth jobs with an absorption rate of 60% into fulltime employment post the programme. 17% of YES Alumni have started their own business with the support of the programme across sectors. 

These are real measurable outcomes Honourable Khanyile. The reports are released quarterly and readily available on the StateOfTheNation website. I would invite the honourable member to make use of this information to avoid quoting incorrect figures as she did earlier today. 

Through sustained investment in youth employment and empowerment programmes, partnerships with the private sector, and the allocation of public resources to create opportunities for young people, this government has enabled hundreds of thousands of youth to gain work experience, skills, and pathways into the labour market. 

The PYEI is not an accidental success; it reflects government's commitment to tackling youth unemployment through targeted intervention and innovation. At a time when youth unemployment remains one of South Africa's greatest challenges, the programme stands as evidence that government action can make a meaningful difference in the lives of young people.

This evidence does not stand in isolation, it speaks to the 32 years of effective governance which has made South Africa a far better country it is today. 

The propagandists want us to believe that this country has gone backwards but in actual fact, the numbers as released by Statistics South Africa in the General Household Survey last week tells a different story. 

Therefore, Honourable Members, allow me to recount the story of the Republic of South Africa in numbers – (and I urge Honourable Litchfield-Tshabalala to listen closely as I know that research is not their strong point, corruption is.)

• South Africa’s total life expectancy at birth increased from 55.2% in 2002 to nearly 67% in 2025.

• 84% of households live in formal dwellings and with more than half of these households owning their homes. This is empirical evidence that we are housing the nation. 

• Earlier the President recounted that we have gone for over a year without loadshedding. In addition, 94.9% of South Africa’s households have access to electricity. 

• On access to water and sanitation, 87.4% of South African households have access to piped water with 8.1 million more households having gained piped water since 2002. 

• 84% of households now have improved sanitation.

• On education, 96.6% of school participation is achieved by age 15.

• 52.9% of South African adults now have at least Grade 12, with an enrolment of 1.9 million students in our public institutions of higher learning as at 2024.

• On connectivity, 93.8% of households have access to a functional telephone (cellphone or landline), with 85.6% of households having access to the internet. In actual fact, our State Owned Telkom have declared R559 million in dividends to government in the past financial year. 

This, ladies and gentlemen is the story of South Africa in numbers, with the Presidency at the apex of driving this delivery through effective coordination. It is a story of a nation in progress with real tangible development in the lives of our people as affirmed by the Honourable Daniels. 

The Honorable Trollip stood here and purported to do an assessment of Chapter 9 Institutions. 

Let us assist him in his assessment of the work of the Presidency with the relevant FACT!

The Constitutional Court, the Public Protector, the Auditor-General, the South African Human Rights Commission, the Independent Electoral Commission, and the broader suite of Chapter 9 institutions — were authored, established and resourced by the African National Congress in Government. The Constitution itself was, in its principal authorship, is the work of this very President. 

The Judicial Commission of Inquiry into Allegations of State Capture — chaired by then-Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo — was established by in January 2018, on the recommendation of the Public Protector. Six volumes of findings were delivered between January and June 2022 with over 17 billion recovered by the state to date.

It is the most exhaustive corruption inquiry in the history of the Republic. 

The Commission of Inquiry into the Public Investment Corporation (the Mpati Commission), chaired by Judge Lex Mpati and reporting in 2020, cleansed the governance of the largest asset manager on the continent.

The Commission of Inquiry into Tax Administration and Governance at the South African Revenue Service (the Nugent Commission), chaired by Justice Robert Nugent in 2018, restored the integrity of SARS and recovered tens of billions of Rand in revenue.

The Toy Soldiers spoke about taxes having forgotten that the reason we have a SARS to speak about today, is because of this very Presidency. Those who sought to cripple this institution now sit in the opposition benches and want to lecture us about progressive taxes. 

The Instruments of the anti-corruption architecture in our country all happened under President Ramaphosa. 

The Special Investigating Unit and its Tribunal; 

The Investigating Directorate of the National Prosecuting Authority, elevated to permanent statutory status as the Investigating Directorate Against Corruption (IDAC) by the National Prosecuting Authority Amendment Act of 2024; 

The Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (the Hawks); 

The Asset Forfeiture Unit;

The Financial Intelligence Centre; 

The National Anti-Corruption Strategy 2020-2030 and the National Anti-Corruption Advisory Council were adopted under President Ramaphosa. 

Honourable President,

Many of those who called you Mr Commission of Inquiry when you established the Madlanga Commission, claiming that it is a delay tactic and waste of funds, are now at the forefront of saying it must continue indefinitely. We of course welcome the change of heart. It is indeed a function of democracy to change your mind when presented with new evidence. 

Mr President, you have stayed true to the promise you made when you came into office when you said – “the era of impunity is over.”

Your Presidency has in truth been characterised by the fact that no one is above the law, including yourself, which is what you have asserted since incumbency. 

So there is no crisis Hon Mesheo, the instruments of accountability created by this government shall continue to work. 

Conclusion

Honourable Members, South Africans will not judge The Presidency by the number of meetings convened. They will judge us by whether government works better when it matters most.

• They will judge us when a young person is searching for a pathway to work.

• They will judge us when a woman seeks protection and justice. 

• They will judge us when a community faces service delivery failure. 

• They will judge us when reform commitments must become visible progress. 

• They will judge us when public expenditure must translate into public trust. 

Our duty is to shorten the distance between commitment and consequence. This Budget Vote is therefore a vote for a Presidency that coordinates with purpose, monitors with discipline, supports reform with urgency, and places the lived experience of South Africans at the centre of its work. 

It is a vote for a government that must move faster, work together better and account more honestly. 

I submit. 

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