South African State of the Nation address postponed

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South Africa on Tuesday postponed its State of the Nation address, the keynote political event of the year, as the ruling ANC party is roiled by a battle to unseat President Jacob Zuma.

Zuma, in power since 2009, is fighting for his survival and faces the risk of soon being ousted from office by his own party after multiple graft scandals.

The African National Congress, which has ruled since Nelson Mandela won the post-apartheid 1994 election, is divided over whether Zuma should be "recalled" from his position. As president, Zuma had been due to deliver the State of the Nation address to parliament in Cape Town on Thursday.

But the party's national executive committee, its highest decision-making body, will hold a special meeting on Wednesday to discuss his possible removal.

"We thought that we needed to create room for establishing a much more conducive political atmosphere in parliament," parliamentary speaker Baleka Mbete told reporters.

"When we met the president this afternoon, we then learned that he was already writing to parliament to ask for the postponement." "A new date for the state of the nation address will be announced, very soon."

The speaker of South Africa's parliament said on Tuesday that parliament was working to ensure that a budget speech by Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba would go ahead on February 21, despite the president's state of the nation address being postponed.

"This postponement has taken into account the scheduled tabling of the national budget in the next two weeks and we are going all out to make sure that the budget is not disturbed or postponed at all," Baleka Mbete told reporters.

Source(s): Reuters