S. Africa would be in trouble if ruling ANC not in power: Zuma

South Africa would be in big trouble without the African National Congress (ANC) in power, President Jacob Zuma said on Sunday.

"The ANC is the only political party that has the best interests of workers at heart," Zuma said at a rally marking the International Workers' Day in Mamelodi, Pretoria.

The ANC has been the ruling party of post-apartheid South Africa on the national level since 1994.

Zuma lauded the ANC as the only political organization in the country that can produce policies and a legal environment that addresses the plight of the workers.

Thousands of people attended the rally organized by the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU), a coalition partner of the ANC.

The president warned against anarchy in South Africa, saying some political opportunists were trying to promote anarchy and thuggery in the country.

"Some desperate elements seem hell-bent to promote anarchy and chaos,"Zuma said.

South Africa has worked hard to achieve peace after apartheid, the president said.

"We must not allow opportunists to take us back to the period of anarchy and destruction. We must also isolate and shun parties that promote disunity and divisions within our country,"Zuma added.

He urged South Africans to isolate political parties that advocate the use of violence in a free and democratic South Africa.

He was referring to the Economic Freedom Fighter (EFF), whose leader, Julius Malema, has threatened to overthrow Zuma by force.

Malema, while launching the EFF manifesto in Johannesburg on Saturday for the August 3 municipal elections, threatened that if Zuma did not leave office voluntarily, he would be removed by the army.

This was the second time in a week that Malema made a threat to overthrow Zuma by force.

Last Sunday, Malema said in an interview with Al Jazeera that the opposition "will run out of patience very soon and we will remove this government through the barrel of a gun" if the ANC continues to respond violently to peaceful protests.

The EFF and the ANC are campaigning hard to win the local elections, which will be the toughest for the ANC since the end of apartheid in 1994.

The elections come as the ANC-led government is haunted by a series of challenges, notably the Nkandla scandal, in which Zuma was accused of abusing public funding to revamp his private home, and the state capture by the Indian Gupta family which allegedly has influenced Zuma's appointment of cabinet ministers.

The local government elections would see political parties fighting for control of the country's metropolitans.

Opposition political parties, particularly the EFF and the Democratic Alliance (DA), have vowed to take over Johannesburg, Pretoria and Nelson Mandela Bay municipality from the ANC. Enditem