SONA is a Reminder: South Africa Remains Highly Prone to Protest Activity

10 Feb 2026

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.