Address by Hon. Kenny Morolong, MP, Deputy Minister in the Presidency, on the occasion of the Presidency Budget Vote Debate 2026/2027
President of the People of South Africa - Your Excellency Matamela Cyril Ramaphosa
Members of the National Executive, Honourable Members of Parliament,
Director General and Secretary of Cabinet - Mme Phindile Baleni Distinguished Guests,
Fellow South Africans,
It is indeed a privilege and honour to rise in support of the President and Minister in The Presidency to present this 2026/27 Budget Vote to this august house. We do so mindful of the solemn responsibilities vested in The Presidency as the centre of government. Our task is not abstract!
It is to strengthen the unity of our people, improve the quality of governance, and advance the Republic of South Africa as a whole. The Annual Performance Plan for 2026/27 is clear: this is not a holding year.
Perhaps it is useful to ground our debate today in the very document that found the democratic republic of South Africa: our Constitution. Section 83(c) of the constitution, entrusts the President with the responsibility to promote the unity of the nation and that which will advance the Republic.
These provisions speak not only to legal authority, but to constitutional purpose. They remind us that unity is not incidental to governance; but positions it as one of the highest obligations of public power.
The Presidency as the centre of government is mandated to drive policy coherence and collective accountability in pursuit of the MTDP priorities. Honourable members, it is for this reason: that social cohesion and nation building should and must remain at the core of our work.
South Africa is united not by homogeneity, but by a constitutional construct that calls upon all of us to turn a painful inheritance of division into a democratic future grounded in dignity, equality and belonging. Social cohesion is therefore not a sentimental aspiration.
It is the practical work of building trust between citizens and institutions, of nurturing mutual respect across difference and of ensuring that every community can recognise itself in the democratic national project underway.
Our Annual Performance Plan gives practical expression to this obligation through a Programme of Action for nation building and social cohesion, with a target of 80% implementation in 2026/27, and through a Programme of Action on strengthening partnerships with social partners, with a target of 90% implementation. These are not mere internal measures. They are instruments for rebuilding trust in the democratic state and furthering the construction of a truly united and diverse nation.
In reflecting on the conditions that either strengthen or weaken cohesion, the work of the complexity scientist; Peter Turchin: offers a useful point of reflection. He uses the concept of immiseration to describe the erosion of economic security and social hope among broad sections of the population. His treatise plainly warns us that: where exclusion deepens, trust declines and social fracture becomes more likely.
That insight is relevant to our own context. Cohesion cannot be separated from material conditions. A society cannot be asked to hold together while too many remain burdened by poverty, unemployment, insecurity and exclusion.
That is why our APP speaks directly to the pressures our people feel: stronger employment pathways, lower cost of-living, safer communities and a state that acts with fairness and competence. It asserts that The Presidency as a centre of government must coordinate the implementation of the policy priorities that seek to deliver on these priorities.
In keeping with this coordination role, The Presidency has set itself the task of assessing SoNA commitments for socio-economic impact, so that delivery is not judged by announcement alone, but by its real effect on people’s lives.
Honourable Chairperson, for government, this means cohesion must be built through visible action. It must be seen in a capable and ethical state, in institutions that are responsive and fair, in safer communities, in dignified access to services and in a public administration that treats every person with dignity and respect. That is why this budget vote supports execution discipline.
Honourable members, citizen engagement remains central to the work of The Presidency, through both mediated and unmediated platforms. The GCIS and its entities: Brand SA and MDDA, are therefore fully poised to support this engagement programme.
The GCIS is mandated to communicate the broad programme of government and empower citizens through disseminating crucial information. In keeping with this mandate, Cabinet has approved the National Communications Strategic Framework to be driven by the GCIS through the entire system of Government. As a department reporting to The Presidency, this work is done through full support of the Ministry in The Presidency.
In this regard, we have started a series of consultations with SALGA and various provincial governments to socialise this national policy and align it for provincial implementation. We have already engaged with the North West Province, Free State is scheduled for next week and plans to engage Mpumalanga and others is continuing apace.
This work seeks to achieve alignment on especially these three key aspects:
• Coordinated government messaging,
• Ensuring that government departments set aside 3- 5% of their operational budget to fund their communications function, and
• Ensuring support for community media through a 30% of communication and advertising spend on community and grassroots media throughout the system of government.
This work is further strengthened by the National Communication Strategic Framework (NCSF), which calls for a more coherent, citizen-centred and development oriented government communication system.
The NCSF positions communication not as an afterthought to delivery, but a strategic instrument for building trust, taking South Africans into confidence and ensuring that a coherent message is communicated across all spheres of government.
Honourable Chairperson, Brand SA is a custodian of our nation brand, mandated to promote our national reputation globally and domestically. Brand SA will only achieve this important task through nation brand alignment with all stakeholders both in the public and private sectors, so that we all understand that our actions can either be brand enablers or disablers.
The work that Brand South Africa does through the support of The Presidency ensures that South African products are bought abroad, that investors do invest in South Africa, tourists visit our shores and foreign students choose our universities.
Honourable members, the MDDA is mandated to ensure diversified ownership of media platforms and consumption of media products curated by community and grassroots media platforms in their local languages. The MDDA’s grant and seed funding programme supports the sustainability, growth and development of community media through both capital and operational investments.
This support translates to just over R50 million for 2025/26 and 2026/27 financial years in broadcast equipment and operational budgets donated to community media. Honourable President, last week Thursday, l had the honour to preside over official handover of the state of the art studios to Vaal University of Technology FM.
The moment represented a meaningful investment in the voice, identity, and cohesion of young people and the wider community of Vanderbijlpark. Community radio stations such as VUT FM hold a unique and powerful place in our democratic society.
It's not just about transmitting sound across the airwaves, it's about connecting people. It's about making sure communities are not only informed but also heard. In so many ways, a community radio such as VUT FM is the heartbeat of our communities.
Honourable Chairperson, Presidential Izimbizo, stakeholder engagements, community media platforms, district and provincial oversight visits, and public feedback mechanisms are not peripheral activities; they are among the essential ways in which the democratic state listens, learns and responds.
Through our G20 Presidency, our country has affirmed that enduring progress depends on partnership, fairness and our shared humanity. These are apparent lessons even for our domestic governance: no community can flourish while another is left behind; no democracy can be secure while exclusion persists; and no developmental project can succeed without social trust.
This requires the steady and calm hand of the President, supported by a capable Presidency to ensure that the work done in uprooting maleficence across the system of government especially the criminal justice sector is ably supported.
Honourable Chairperson, the project of building a socially cohesive and united nation is neither quick nor easy. It asks much of government, but it also asks much of society. It calls for principled leadership, trusted institutions and citizens who remain invested in the democratic project we have together chosen.
Credibility in government depends on disciplined follow through, measurable progress and visible results. This budget vote therefore, affirms that the work of The Presidency is not only to coordinate government, but to strengthen execution, restore confidence in public institutions, and help hold together the deeper promise held in the democratic project of our Republic.
Let us continue, with humility and determination, to build a South Africa in which our diversity remains a source of strength, our institutions command confidence, and every person can feel that they belong to a common future. However, those who
refuse to listen cannot demand respect from the very voices they do not want to hear.
True strength is not a monologue, it is a bridge. And those who burn the bridge cannot wonder why no one walks their way. We have seen some in this house who style themselves as progressive caucus walking out of the house; yet they want to engage in the debate they abandoned.
We are neither moved nor impressed by these infantile theatrics!
Ke a lo leboga!
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