The Big Read: Who is going to blink first?

If President Jacob Zuma's office organised Sunday's lunch with editors with the intention of dispelling perceptions that he felt under siege as he prepared for tomorrow's State of the Nation address, they succeeded.

Zuma did not look or sound like a man about to suffer the embarrassment of being the first president to be heckled and jeered, and probably forced to abandon his speech, during the official opening of parliament.

In fact, he seemed relaxed and in a better state of health than he was when he delivered his State of the Nation address in June.

Tomorrow's official opening of parliament speech is the most keenly anticipated since Nelson Mandela delivered his maiden address as president in May 1994.

It is probably the most spoken about since the last apartheid president, FW de Klerk, announced the unbanning of liberation movements on February 2 1990. Certainly, it will have the most television viewers.

And all of that won't be because of what Zuma has to say. The unprecedented public interest arises from a threat by Julius Malema and the Economic Freedom Fighters to disrupt proceedings in protest at what they say is the president's refusal to answer questions about his private homestead in Nkandla.

What was clear from the lunch conversation was that Zuma was more than ready for a fight with Malema. His strategy, it seems, is not to tackle the EFF head-on but to leave everything in the hands of National Assembly Speaker Baleka Mbete.

Asked if he would take a question from Malema, Zuma said: "Well, it all depends on the rules of parliament. I will listen to the Speaker." He made it clear, however, that he was "not nervous" about the EFF's plans.

If the Speaker decides the EFF has the right to ask Zuma, during his speech, whether he plans to pay back some of the money used on his private property, we can conclude from the lunch what he is likely to say.

The president devoted a lot of time to defending himself against accusations that he squandered public funds, pointing to a number of government investigations that he said failed to find any wrongdoing on his part.

But Nkandla is not the only issue troubling South Africa, and Zuma will have to say something about the power crisis. If what he said on Sunday is anything to go by, he will not shy away from tracing its roots to racist policies of past apartheid governments.

This is despite criticism from people who say he is using apartheid to hide the ANC government's failings. On Sunday he seemed to be partially taking the criticism to heart, conceding that the ANC "could have done better" over the past 20 years.

On the economic front, expect more of the same. Although Zuma had much to say about the growing gap between rich and poor throughout the world, he did not seem to have any "radical" ideas of how South Africa could narrow it.

It being the 25th anniversary of De Klerk's speech, expect the former National Party leader - who will be in the House - to receive a special mention. It is also more than likely that the central theme of Zuma's speech will be based on the 60-year-old Freedom Charter, the ruling party's basic policy blueprint.

Considering that racism is increasingly becoming a topical issue, not really because it is on the rise but because its victims are growing in confidence and speaking out, we should expect Zuma to appeal to the country to return to the non-racialist path envisioned by Mandela.

But all of this depends on whether things do get out of hand tomorrow night, leading to the police being called in.