Eastern Cape poet Inako Mateza steals people’s heart at SONA

by Silindokuhle Booi

Eastern Cape-born and bred multi-award-winning poet Inako Mateza became the topic of the State of the Nation Address 2025 (SONA) after being the president’s poet.

The 19-year-old founder of Inako foundation is the first young Eastern Cape poet to usher the president. Her initiative for her foundation is dedicated to preserving cultural heritage and awareness for young people across their cultures and traditions.

In her foundation, Inako teaches over 400 young virgins, both girls and boys about their heritage and how to connect with their ancestors through praise.

She is currently a student at the Durban University of Technology where is she pursuing her homoeopathy studies under the Health Science faculty.

The not-so-foreign face of the founder has been making rounds on the internet after she did her praise at the SONA 2025 last night. Most people were openly talking about her calling Mr President by his nickname, ‘Cupcake’ on national TV.

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Social media users found it hilarious claiming that the next generation does not care.

Whilst the conversation was topical on social media platforms, Inako took to her TikTok account and shared that before she could actually go and do the poem at the Parliament, she wrote it down and it was sent to the president who approved meaning he did not mind her calling him by ‘Cupcake.’

She added, “I did rehearsals yesterday, I was never told to change anything.”

Social media users were having the time of their lives in her comment section while they continued congratulating her.

One said: “We laughed we found it funny and we loved it too. You were on fire. The recipient also found it funny and laughed khange ube rwada tu baba vha [you were not rude].”

Also see:Pop culture 101: Knowing the history behind the president’s ‘Cupcake’ nickname