Okay, I'll admit it: I'm a bit of a political anorak. My Sky+ planner is wall to wall political commentary, I never miss PMQs and a General Election means taking annual leave so that I can stay up all night to watch all the analysis. Though much of it is derided as pointless theatre, the way politicians manouever themselves around various issues fascinates me. It's much more interesting than any film.
At around 5pm GMT tonight, one of the most interesting speeches for a political anork will take place: South Africa's State of the Nation Address (SONA), the President's annual speech to the nation. In addition to the overarching political climate, events of the last few days make this the most eagerly anticipated SONA since 1994 and the way President Zuma tackles it could be one of the most interesting pieces of posturing in global politics.
On the one hand, today's SONA comes just one day since South Africa marked 25 years since the release of Nelson Mandela, suggesting it should be a cause for celebration for the people in general and Zuma's ANC party in particular, however other things in the last week have not gone so well.
South Africa's economy continues to struggle, with the Rand slumping yesterday to a 12 year low and figures today showing a decline in the vital mining industry. Perhaps as a result of economic conditions, huge rallies were held in Soweto today where African shopkeepers were campaigning against foreign (mostly Asian) shopkeepers being allowed to run their own business. What began as meetings has developed into mass pickets that are forcing foregin shopkeepers to remain closed and making it impossible for them to leave their own home. The ANC has been quick to condemn this, committed to its long-term stance of non-racialism. 25 years since apartheid began to fall, care must be taken that it is not built up again in other ways.
Meanwhile, due to maintenance and other problems at some major power stations, South Africa is not able to generate enough power to meet its needs, and the state energy provider Eskom has had to enforce planned power outages across the country over the last few days. These are set to increase if a solution cannot be found. Many businesses, including huge store chain Woolworths (more like M&S than the Woolworths we knew in the UK), have warned of the impact this will have on them and the economy.
The President himself is also under huge political pressure over the cost and transparency of "security upgrades" at his Nkandla home. Will he tackle this head on in SONA or try to ignore the issue? Some opposition politicians are threatening to break with convention and interrupt SONA if Zuma does not address the issue and it is a guarantee that this will be a hotly contested issue in the next elections.
Add this to the list of wider problems I raised in yesterday's blog post, and the President seems to be between a rock and a hard place when it comes to SONA. How he will address the variety of issues facing the country and insipre hope and confidence among his people will be an interesting piece of political science.
But all is not grim for the President - despite the problems and controversies, the ANC remains popular and in a recent poll by Ipsos, 53% of South Africans agreed he was doing a good job of running the country. Contrast that with any of the main political leaders in the UK who routinely run negative approval ratings and that seems rather good.
Watching the media build up to tonight's SONA, the atomsphere seems a mixture of red carpet glamour and volatile tension. It's no wonder that national broadcaster SABC has dubbed SONA "a show like no other".
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