Zuma comes to Parliament slightly jaded from the African Union summit, where SA tried to paper over the cracks after a week of unrelenting diplomacy. The focus of the state of the nation address, however, will be largely domestic as it serves a dual purpose — to look back at the year that was and the progress made, and to look forward to where he sees SA in the next year, or perhaps the remainder of his term of office.

Zuma's presidency is a mass of contradictions and one almost gets the sense that it has still not found its rhythm and is drifting on crucial questions, from the economy to its double-speak on corruption. The Presidency has become bloated and clumsy and its communication has been clumsy. Presidency spokesman Mac Maharaj, an experienced hand, has become far too embroiled in defending his own persona of late, creating uncomfortable conflicts. The same goes for government spokesman Jimmy Manyi.

More people have been hired and fired in the Presidency than ever before and its budget has increased dramatically. The Presidency was also singled out for a qualified audit by the auditor-general.

The past year has been a tough one. The global economic crisis has meant there is less to go around. In his medium-term budget policy statement, Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan laid out the bleak picture — agriculture and manufacturing output declined; very few new jobs have been created and where they have, they have been mostly in the public sector, which is worrying; revenue is down; and, by 2015, debt-servicing costs will be back to the levels of the mid-1990s. More than anything, SA needs jobs. It is clear, though, that the government's target of 5-million jobs by 2020 will not be reached. The focus, Gordhan correctly keeps reminding us, must therefore be on value for money. Where resources are tight, over spending and waste must be nipped in the bud and a greater emphasis must be placed on accountability.

There is no doubt Zuma will focus on the areas of progress in the ANC's five-point priority plan — unemployment, crime, rural development and agrarian reform, education and healthcare. While progress has been made, there are simply too many stories of corruption, tenderpreneurship, maladministration and cronyism. The interventions in Limpopo and the Eastern Cape are welcome. The Department of Home Affairs also stands out as an example of what proper leadership brings; it has had its first unqualified audit in 17 years.

Last year was a messy year in relation to building our democratic institutions. We have been left somewhat battered and bruised by what appears to be the ruling party's discomfort with the constitution. Former chief justice Arthur Chaskalson weighed in thoughtfully on that debate recently. His intervention serves as a reminder that corruption and slow government "service delivery" cannot be blamed on the constitution.

Zuma still needs to show ordinary citizens that he is comfortable with free media, an independent judiciary and an activist civil society. But reaffirming a commitment to the constitution and its institutions is meaningless if the Protection of State Information Bill is passed without the crucial public-interest defence clause. It is also meaningless when the public protector does her work under threat of sanction and when the media are bashed at every turn.

Yet, while last year gave us Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng and the "secrecy bill", it also brought us the Right to Know campaign and community protests showing that citizens will not be silenced — even in the face of Andries Tatane's tragic death in Ficksburg. Uncomfortable as it has been and will continue to be, the discussion about the delicate relationship between the judiciary and the executive and the nature of an open society must be had in an atmosphere of calm reflection and not politically charged opportunism.

It is on these issues that South Africans want to hear Zuma's mind. His clarity of thought is long over due.

• February is head of Idasa's Political Information and Monitoring Service.