CAPE TOWN: Hundreds of protesters marched outside South Africa’s Parliament on Thursday hours before an annual state-of-the-nation speech by President Jacob Zuma, whom they accuse of corruption and mismanaging the country’s flagging economy.

Zuma’s speech came amid growing criticism over a taxpayer-funded 250 million (then $23 million) upgrade to his private home and years of weak economic growth in Africa’s most industrialized country.

Investors also want to know why Zuma fired two finance ministers in one week this December. Minister Nhlanhla Nene was replaced by relatively unknown lawmaker David van Rooyen, sparking a selling frenzy in the markets. Zuma swiftly replaced van Rooyen with the respected Pravin Gordhan.

BNP Paribas Securities SA economist Jeffrey Schultz said the reshuffle “brought into question political stability of this economy and in particular the independence of national treasury in helping set policy in South Africa.”

Julius Malema, the fiery leader of the far-left opposition Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) party, said last week he would disrupt Zuma’s speech, as he did last year, if Zuma fails to explain why he fired the finance ministers.

The speaker of Parliament has vowed to quash any attempts to disrupt the proceedings. Last year security officials removed Malema and other EFF MPs.

In the lead-up to the speech, police set up barbed wire barricades to keep protesters away from Parliament. But about 300 marchers walked through Cape Town’s main street, shouting: “Zuma Must Fall!” and waving placards. Elsewhere in the city, pro-Zuma marchers also began to gather.