It won’t be easy to remove Zuma: Analyst

South Africans have shared mixed reactions to reports that President Jacob Zuma declined to give in to a request by five of the African National Congress’s (ANC) top six to step down.

This comes as presiding officers of Parliament get ready to hold a meeting with political parties represented in the National Assembly, with hopes that the meeting will resolve their concerns around who will deliver the State of the Nation Address (SONA) on Thursday.

Political analyst Ralph Mathekga says it will not be easy to force Zuma to step down.

Mathekga says, “President Jacob Zuma is aware that he’s an electoral liability to the ANC, and I think he’s aware that his continued presidency is only embarrassing the party. He’s bringing about unnecessary interruptions that the party could actually do without, and the party should be focusing on campaigning for the 2019 elections, instead they are trying to manage the exit of a leader.”

The Democratic Alliance (DA) and the Economic Freedom Front (EFF) wrote to National Assembly Speaker Baleka Mbete requesting that President Jacob Zuma not be allowed to deliver the address.

EFF leader Julius Malema says his party is in the process of removing Zuma