CAPE TOWN: South African President Jacob Zuma delivers a state of the nation address this week to a country facing its toughest year since Nelson Mandela took power more than two decades ago.
Special security precautions are in place for Zuma's address to parliament, which last year degenerated into chaos when opposition lawmakers prevented him from speaking and were violently evicted.
As the president speaks on Thursday -- if his most vocal opponents in the assembly allow it -- protesters supporting a "Zuma must fall" movement will demonstrate in major cities around the country.
Social unrest has flared in South Africa over a sharply slowing economy, high unemployment and grinding black poverty contrasting with white wealth.
And a resurgence of racial animosity in a nation born out of apartheid has added a toxic element.
"We are poised at the beginning of what is going to be the most testing year in the short history of the new South Africa," said veteran commentator Allister Sparks.
Unless Zuma is ousted from the presidency by his own ANC party, the dire economy carries "the risk of triggering a populist political uprising leading to chaos and violence," Sparks wrote in a recent News24 column.
But Zuma's recall by the ruling African National Congress is unlikely, said analyst Moletsi Mbeki.
"I don't think there are any calls from inside the ANC for Zuma to go," Mbeki told AFP.
"I don't think there is a chance of him leaving before the end of his term (in 2019)."
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