26/02/2026
From commitment to implementation: Advancing disability inclusion after SONA 2026
(A Commentary on the State of the Nation Address)
The South African National Council for the Blind (SANCB) welcomes the 2026 State of the Nation Address delivered by President Cyril Ramaphosa as an important moment of consolidation.
If last year’s address signalled renewed political intent around inclusion, economic participation, and state reform, this year’s SONA challenges the country to move decisively from commitment to implementation. For persons with disabilities—particularly blind and partially sighted South Africans—this shift is critical. Rights, after all, are only meaningful when they translate into lived access, opportunity, and dignity.
At its core, the 2026 SONA reaffirmed a central truth: South Africa’s recovery and future competitiveness depend on building a capable state, expanding economic participation, and modernising infrastructure in ways that reach those historically excluded.
While disability was not foregrounded as a standalone theme, it was unmistakably present as a cross-cutting issue embedded within the President’s focus on jobs, skills, education, digital transformation, and social protection. The task now is to ensure that persons with disabilities are not passive beneficiaries of these reforms, but active participants in shaping and benefiting from them.
The President’s emphasis on economic growth, industrialisation, and support for small and medium enterprises carries particular significance for the disability sector. Too often, inclusion has been reduced to employment equity targets that do little to address structural exclusion.
The renewed focus on procurement reform, localisation, and enterprise development presents an opportunity to shift from compliance-based inclusion toward genuine economic participation.
For blind and partially sighted entrepreneurs, access to public procurement remains constrained by inaccessible systems, information asymmetries, and rigid administrative processes.
Fast-tracking reforms that simplify procurement and expand access must therefore go hand in hand with ensuring that digital procurement platforms are fully accessible to screen readers and assistive technologies. Without this, well-intentioned reforms risk reinforcing exclusion through design rather than intent.
Economic participation also extends beyond entrepreneurship. Employment pathways in the green economy, infrastructure development, and digital services—highlighted in the SONA as growth drivers—must be deliberately opened to persons with disabilities through inclusive recruitment practices, accessible training environments, and reasonable accommodation that is proactive rather than reactive.
The 2026 SONA placed strong emphasis on skills development, education reform, and the alignment of training with labour-market needs. For persons with visual impairments, this agenda is inseparable from access to assistive technology and inclusive learning design.
While South Africa has made progress in widening access to education, many blind and partially sighted learners continue to encounter delays in accessing learning materials, assessments, and digital platforms. Skills initiatives that do not integrate accessibility from the outset risk reproducing exclusion at scale. By contrast, when assistive technology is embedded into mainstream training programmes—rather than treated as a specialised add-on—it becomes a powerful equaliser.
Recent advances in artificial intelligence and digital tools make this integration both feasible and cost-effective. Intelligent reading software, real-time text-to-speech, tactile display technologies, and multilingual content conversion are no longer experimental; they are mature solutions capable of transforming how blind learners access information. Aligning these technologies with skills programmes and public training initiatives would mark a decisive step toward inclusive human capital development.
The President’s commitment to strengthening digital public infrastructure and modernising government services is particularly relevant for persons with disabilities. Digital transformation has the potential to remove physical barriers, reduce travel costs, and streamline access to services—but only if accessibility is treated as a foundational requirement.
Too many government platforms still exclude blind users through inaccessible interfaces, poorly structured documents, and systems incompatible with assistive technology. As government services migrate further online, accessibility must be enforced through clear standards, procurement requirements, and accountability mechanisms. Accessibility is not a technical luxury; it is a constitutional imperative grounded in equality and human dignity.
A capable state, as envisioned in the SONA, must therefore include public servants who are trained in disability inclusion, digital accessibility, and universal design. Professionalisation of the public service cannot succeed if it overlooks the diverse needs of the citizens it serves.
Infrastructure development featured prominently in the President’s address, particularly in relation to transport, energy, and urban renewal. For persons with disabilities, infrastructure is not merely an economic asset; it is the difference between dependence and independence.
Accessible public transport, safe pedestrian pathways, tactile paving, and audible signalling remain unevenly implemented across municipalities. As infrastructure investment accelerates, universal access principles must be integrated into planning, design, and monitoring processes. Retrofitting accessibility after construction is both inefficient and costly. Designing inclusively from the outset is not only socially just—it is fiscally responsible.
Local government, identified in the SONA as a critical site of reform, plays a decisive role in this regard. Municipal performance improvements must be measured not only by financial metrics, but by the extent to which local environments enable full participation by persons with disabilities.
The President’s continued focus on social protection and income support reflects an understanding of South Africa’s deep structural inequalities. For many persons with disabilities, social grants remain a vital safety net in the face of persistently high unemployment. However, social protection must not become a substitute for inclusion in the mainstream economy.
Policies should be designed to support transitions from social assistance to economic participation, without penalising individuals who take up short-term or part-time opportunities. Flexible, responsive systems are essential to ensure that persons with disabilities are not trapped in cycles of poverty by well-intentioned but rigid policy frameworks.
The themes articulated in the 2026 SONA resonate strongly with South Africa’s broader positioning as a global advocate for inclusive development, particularly through its leadership in international forums. As global attention increasingly turns to artificial intelligence, digital transformation, and future skills, South Africa has an opportunity to champion a model of development that places accessibility and inclusion at its centre.
This requires sustained collaboration between government, civil society, and organisations of persons with disabilities. Inclusion cannot be designed in isolation; it must be co-created with those who live its realities daily. The credibility of South Africa’s inclusive development agenda—both domestically and internationally—will ultimately be measured by whether the most marginalised experience tangible change.
The 2026 State of the Nation Address marks a moment of transition: from policy articulation to delivery, from intention to impact. For blind and partially sighted South Africans, the address offers cautious optimism grounded in the recognition that inclusion is inseparable from economic growth, state capability, and social cohesion.
SANCB calls on government to ensure that disability inclusion is not treated as a peripheral concern, but as a core measure of success across all reform programmes. When accessibility is built into systems, technologies, and institutions from the outset, inclusion becomes not an obligation, but a driver of national progress.
A truly inclusive South Africa will not emerge through rhetoric alone. It will be built through deliberate design, accountable implementation, and meaningful partnership with persons with disabilities themselves. The challenge set by SONA 2026 is clear. The responsibility to realise its promise now rests with all of us.
Prepared by: Dr. Ashley Subbiah (SANCB Assistive Technology Centre Manager)
For correspondence: Mr. Lewis Nzimande (SANCB National Executive Director), Tel – 069 545 6240 or 012 452 3345
SANCB address:
514 White Street
Bailey’s Muckleneuk
Pretoria, South Africa
PO Box 11149, Hatfield
0028
www.sancb.org.za | 012 452 3811
