Just two years after the President declared that South Africa was entering the age of hope, the country has entered an age of deep anxiety that could develop into a constitutional crisis. On Friday, President Thabo Mbeki must give the bravest and most honest speech of his life when he delivers his State of the Nation Address in Parliament. 

Like FW de Klerk in 1990, President Mbeki is faced with a Damascus moment. He can either set South Africa on the path to a true constitutional democracy, or he can allow the ANC to continue with its assault on independent institutions.

Unlike de Klerk, it is too late for Mbeki to take his party with him - Zuma's ascendancy is too far gone for that. But Mbeki has a final opportunity, from his position as national President, to make a speech that will save his legacy, and make a profound impact on all South Africans who want to defend our Constitution and make our democracy work.

To do this, the President must concede that there is nothing democratic about the ANC's core doctrine, the so-called ‘national democratic revolution' (NDR)which commits the party to controlling all levers of power. These levers include the media, the judiciary, the police, the bureaucracy, intelligence structures, the judiciary, parastatals, and regulatory bodies.

Mbeki, as a loyal ANC cadre, has entrenched the national democratic revolution during his years in power. Unless he takes his last chance to reverse it, his legacy will be defined by the way in which he helped the party to extend its tentacles into virtually every institution of state, in order to serve the ends of his shrinking ruling clique.

If the President does not act now, he will be responsible for opening the way for Jacob Zuma to take the national democratic revolution to its logical conclusion: the final collapse of the boundary between party and state and the death of institutions that offer checks and balances to state power.  

The signs are already there that Zuma and his populist allies will advance the national democratic revolution with even greater determination than Mbeki:

• Zuma and his allies have already resolved to curtail press freedom by establishing a tribunal that will make the media accountable to Parliament, and making the public broadcaster overwhelmingly reliant on state funding.
  
  
• The ANC's recent attack on Deputy Chief Justice Dikgang Moseneke for refusing to bow to the whims of the ruling party is an indication that Zuma will take the ANC's onslaught against judicial independence one step further, not least because he faces his own trial for corruption in August.
  
  
• Mbeki's interference in the work of the National Prosecuting Authority, particularly the removal of its head, Vusi Pikoli, has shown that effective state institutions are fair game for ANC politicians if their interests are threatened. The ANC is set to continue with this trend as the party exerts pressure on government to dissolve the Scorpions.
  
  
• Parliament, long the rubber stamp of the Mbeki government, will be further collapsed into the executive under Zuma. This is clear from the Speaker's appointment as ANC Chairperson and head of the ANC committee dealing with party strategy in Parliament. While there may be a brief resurgence of parliamentary oversight as the Zuma camp attempts to assert its will over Mbeki, this will stop abruptly once Zuma is in power.
  
  
• Just as Mbeki tried to bury the Arms Deal by neutering SCOPA's oversight role and sanitising the Public Protector and Auditor General's joint report, Zuma and his allies will do all in their power to prevent the truth from emerging. It is clear that the ANC's "in-house" investigation into the Arms Deal is an attempt to exonerate members of the Zuma faction of any wrongdoing, without requiring them to face the full force of the law, and avoiding exposing the wider circle potentially implicated in corruption.
  
  
• Even key policy failures such as the electricity crisis can be traced back to the national democratic revolution logic of deploying loyal ANC cadres to top posts at key state institutions. In this case, it is clear that the people were chosen to head Eskom on the basis of their political connections rather than their management, technical or planning skills.   It is also clear that Ministers, who are loyal to the President, remain in office no matter what their failures or transgressions. 

In accordance with the national democratic revolution, Mbeki has sought to control all levers of state and society. He now has a unique opportunity to admit that the national democratic revolution has plunged South Africa into a constitutional crisis.

In particular, the President must announce on Friday that his government will:

• Unequivocally defend the Scorpions and oppose their dissolution and absorption by the SAPS.
  
  
• Reject the ANC proposals to establish a media tribunal and change the SABC's funding formula.
  
  
• Resist attempts by the ANC to make the judiciary accountable to the ruling party.
  
  
• Review the rules that allow the Speaker of the National Assembly to hold high political office in the ruling party.
  
  
• Establish a Judicial Commission of Inquiry, with full powers of subpoena, to thoroughly investigate the Arms Deal.
  
  
• Appoint people to positions in the state based on their abilities rather than their loyalty to the ANC or a particular faction of it.

If the President does not use this occasion to halt the march of the ANC's national democratic revolution, he will be forever seen as the man who laid the groundwork for Zuma to take it to its logical conclusion. South Africa will never forgive him.

Statement by Helen Zille, leader of the Democratic Alliance, February 4 2008