Embattled
South African President Jacob Zuma addresses the nation Thursday against a
background of concerted efforts in the courts, parliament and on the streets to
throw him out of office.
A scandal over public money spent on his private residence and
damage done to the economy when he fired two finance ministers within days are
the major factors fuelling the “Zuma must fall” protests.
Zuma’s annual state of the nation address in parliament comes
just two days after the Constitutional Court heard a crucial case accusing him
of violating his oath to uphold the constitution.
Two opposition parties took the case to court over Zuma’s
initial refusal to obey a ruling by the national ombudswoman that he repay some
of the $24 million lavished on his private home at Nkandla.
His own lawyers accepted in court that the case had “traumatised
the nation,” and conceded that he needed to obey.
But they urged the court not to be “inveigled into a position of
making some form of wide, condemnatory order, which will be used effectively
for… an impeachment in parliament”.