Johannesburg -The opposition Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) has welcomed the postponement of the State of the Nation address (SONA).
''We welcome this as a move towards the removal of (Jacob) Zuma from the highest office in the land. We reiterate our call for the motion of no confidence to take place before SONA.
"We know that even if the ANC NEC (national executive committee) were to recall him, Zuma will not step down,'' the EFF said in a statement shortly after Parliament announced that SONA, which had been due to take place on Thursday, had been postponed.
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National Assembly Speaker Baleka Mbete made the announcement of the postponement on Tuesday.
This comes as the governing ANC confirmed that its national executive committee would on Wednesday make a decision on the fate of the embattled Zuma.
However, Mbete told journalists from the steps of the building that Parliament had decided to approach Zuma to propose the postponement "in order to create room for establishing a much more conducive political atmosphere in Parliament".
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"When we met the President, we then learnt that he was already writing to Parliament to ask for the postponement of SONA,'' Mbete said.
The EFF said Zuma will end up in prison. ''In his hearts of hearts, he wishes that chaos erupts should he be forced to step down.
"Knowing that his destination is prison, Zuma wants to go down with chaos, he must be forced down, and demonstrated to, that there will not be any chaos.
"Zuma will end up in prison, and not because anyone hates him, but because he has been working hard, of his own volition, to end up in jail.''