SONA is a Reminder: South Africa Remains Highly Prone to Protest Activity
As Cape Town prepares to host the 2026 State of
the Nation Address (SONA), public attention will understandably focus on the
event itself and the likelihood of demonstrations around Parliament and the
CBD. But for business, SONA is also a broader reminder of a hard reality: South
Africa remains one of the most protest-active environments in the world,
and disruption is not limited to major political events.
According to Excellerate Intelligence,
recorded social disorganisation incidents remained persistently high throughout
2025, with 4,666 incidents recorded across the year. This included 1125
incidents in Q1, 1265 in Q2, 1192 in Q3, and 1,084 in Q4.
Comparative statistics from 1 Oct – 31 Dec 2024
vs. 01 Oct – 31 Dec 2025 showed a 31% increase in recorded social
disorganisation – this trajectory is expected to continue through
2026.
“SONA is not the risk, it’s the reminder,” said
Excellerate MD, Adriaan Otto. “The real issue is that protest action in
South Africa is frequent, widespread, and often unpredictable. Businesses can’t
treat it as an exception anymore.”
Otto noted that while SAPS remains the lawful
authority for public order policing, protest activity often shifts into
business districts, transport routes, and commercial zones, where the immediate
concern becomes continuity and safety.
“SAPS will do what SAPS must do around SONA,”
he said. “But when protest action moves into a business environment, affecting
access, staff movement, retail operations or logistics, that’s when companies
need tactical response capability to stabilise the situation quickly.”
Otto said the message for business is clear:
planning cannot stop at guarding and access control. “Disruption can escalate
fast,” he said. “Businesses need layered preparedness, intelligence, planning,
and the ability to call in tactical intervention support when conditions
change.”
Excellerate Security clients are reminded that tactical
intervention support remains available to mitigate escalation linked to social
disorganisation or labour-related protest activity impacting business
continuity.
This capability includes the rapid deployment
of trained tactical response and intervention teams, strengthened perimeter
and access-point reinforcement, and incident stabilisation support
in volatile environments, supported by command-and-control coordination and
intelligence-led situational awareness to ensure a controlled and professional
response when conditions deteriorate.
For immediate tactical
intervention support, clients can contact the Excellerate Security national
Command Centre on 0860 11 00 11.
