The State of the Nation Address (SONA) is delivered at the annual opening of Parliament, by the President of the Republic of South Africa. The President addresses a joint sitting of the two houses of Parliament namely, the National Assembly (NA) and the National Council of Provinces (NCOP).

The address focuses on the current political and socio-economic state of the nation based on government assessments. Therefore, we cannot assume that the address fully incorporates the views of the ordinary people of South Africa. Consequently, there is a gap during SONA event in terms of the articulation of the views of the wider South African society.

This People’s State of the Nation Assessment (PSONA) report seeks to fill this gap by collating the perceptions of ordinary South Africans, who were surveyed by the Institute for Justice and Reconciliation (IJR) South African Reconciliation Barometer (SARB) and the Afrobarometer.

Report by the Institute for Justice and Reconciliation