While media reports suggested that Jacob Zuma’s days are numbered, experts and those close to the ANC believe that the president is not going anywhere anytime soon.<\/p>\n
Following the blunder to sack finance minister Nhlanhla Nene, questions were raised by <\/span>business leaders and high-ups in the ANC, who began to sharpen their knives, according to the Sunday Times.<\/p>\n Late last year, Zuma made the decision to axe Nene and replaced him with unknown ANC back-bencher David van Rooyen, sending the rand into free-fall, resulting in billions of rands in losses.<\/p>\n Van Rooyen, who had been finance minister for only four tumultuous days, has since swapped roles with former finance head, Pravin Gordhan, as Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs.<\/p>\n The ANC lauded the president for listening to the people of South Africa.\u00a0\u201cPresident Zuma\u2019s decision to appoint Comrade Gordhan therefore is an explicit demonstration of a responsive and accountable government,\u201d said an ANC spokesperson.<\/p>\n Amid calls for the president’s head, <\/span>ANC spokesperson Zizi Kodwa said: \u201cI can confirm that there was never any talk of a recall.”<\/p>\n This weekend sees the 104th anniversary of the founding of the ANC. President Zuma is expected to deliver his first major speech of 2016, in Rustenburg.<\/p>\n Read: How Jacob Zuma is allegedly plotting a third term as president<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n The Financial Times<\/a> noted that the race to succeed Zuma is already under way with the ANC due to hold a five-yearly congress, at which it elects its leadership, in 2017.<\/p>\n “However, few ANC officials openly criticise the president and those who have been seen to challenge him tend to find themselves pushed to the periphery.”<\/p>\n \u201cIn reality there is no one to challenge Zuma,\u201d said Moeletsi Mbeki, a businessman and brother of Thabo Mbeki, the former president. \u201cHe may be weak in terms of credibility, but Zuma has never been strong in terms of credibility.\u201d<\/p>\n He told the Economist<\/a> that the ANC\u2019s real challenge is less about the president and more about the party\u2019s \u201clack of economic performance and its incompetent and corrupt administration\u201d as the post-apartheid dividend enjoyed by South Africa runs out of steam.<\/p>\n According to the Economist, Zuma favours his loyal ex-wife, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, as his successor. Zuma, however,\u00a0 may not be able to name his own successor<\/p>\n “Mr Zuma\u2019s critics speculate that he wants his ex-wife at the helm as an ally to argue that the charges\u2014which he claims are politically motivated\u2014should never see the light of day,” the Economist wrote.<\/p>\n The president’s popularity is at an all time low. A survey<\/a> in November showed that Zuma\u2019s approval rating dropped by as much as 28%\u00a0\u2013\u00a0from 64% in 2011 to 36% in 2015. Even those within the ANC were not happy.<\/p>\n Current deputy president, Cyril Ramaphosa, may have seen his stocks rise following the finance ministerial blunder, and South Africa’s current poor credit rating.<\/p>\n Ramaphosa also has the support of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu), being a former union boss.<\/p>\n With Municipal elections due to be held in May, Zuma’s grip on power may be weakened further should the ANC’s perform poorly.<\/p>\n Susan Booysen, author of the book \u201cDominance and Decline: The ANC in the Time of Zuma\u201d, said that Dlamini-Zuma would be much like the current president. “That worries liberals, who fret that Mr Zuma has undermined institutions that check presidential power and tolerated widespread corruption,” the economist said.<\/p>\n \u201cI think Zuma is going to be with us long after he has actually left office,\u201d said Booysen.<\/p>\n \u201cThere are still tests ahead. It\u2019s only in the [February] budget that we will see the strength of the fiscal mandate provided to minister Gordhan and how much he is going to deliver,\u201d says David Faulkner, economist at HSBC.<\/p>\n \u201cUntil then there are going to be lingering questions over the credibility of fiscal policy and the management of public finances,” he told the Financial Times.<\/p>\n Zuma could be gone in 2016: economist<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\nMore on president Zuma<\/h3>\n