Zuma fit for State of Nation speech

President Jacob Zuma should reach the "necessary levels of energy" for delivering his State of the Nation speech next week.

ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe said Zuma was expected to be released from a Pretoria hospital late yesterday afternoon after being admitted on Saturday morning for "routine" tests. His condition was attributed by the party to a "gruelling" 2014 election campaign during which he crisscrossed the country with little rest.

Speculation has been rife that Zuma, 72, was felled by a mystery illness said to have struck him while delivering his opening remarks to the ANC national executive committee lekgotla in Centurion, near Pretoria, on Friday.

The Sunday Times yesterday reported that staff at The Presidency had been concerned about Zuma's health, saying he had been working 20-hour days without rest for five months.

One staff member said: "If you look at his programme since the start of the election campaign, no one has worked as hard."

Mantashe said that he, himself, had been given a nine-day break from fulfilling party engagements.

He said the other top six leaders of the ANC would be "forced" to take time off.

Presidential spokesman Mac Maharaj could not be reached for comment. By late last night, no statement had been issued about Zuma's release from hospital.