Which president will take the podium?

In four days the president of the republic is scheduled to give the annual state of the nation address as the parliamentary year commences. Bigwigs and foreign dignitaries are scheduled to gather to hear the head of state outline the government’s policies and goals. In the past couple of years preparations for the state of the nation address have included draconian security as President Jacob Zuma’s political opponents have plotted to derail uBaba, the one with the Teflon hide. Last year EFF MPs chanted “tsotsi”, the Xhosa word for thief, at Zuma and were forcibly removed from the house by thugs in white shirts. South Africans watched the spectacle with the same morbid fascination that draws spectators to accident scenes.

But as is so often the case in this country, this year we venture into uncharted territory. At the time of writing we do not know which president will give this year’s speech. Will it be newly elected ANC president Cyril Ramaphosa or The One who Laughs while Grinding his Enemies? Indeed, whatever Speaker Baleka Mbete’s assurances, will the state of the nation address take place at all?

Zuma has a selective memory. As is reported on these pages, before the ANC recalled Thabo Mbeki from the presidency in 2008, Zuma and his camp argued that the 2009 state of the nation should be downgraded into Mbeki’s farewell speech as there was no point in him presenting a long-term government programme to parliament.

There have been many reports on the imminent demise of Zuma’s political career. As Mark Twain once said: “Reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated.”

For a head of state long dismissed as a lame duck, he certainly has managed to stick around. How much longer will this dire ornithological specimen be allowed to keep quacking?

ANC heavyweights are reportedly meeting Zuma this afternoon to put yet more pressure on him to pack his briefcase. They must finally man up and force the issue once and for all. There is no other way to steer the country onto the road to prosperity.