Deputy president Jacob Zuma is too popular for the ANC to force him to resign over the furore about the arms deal and his personal finances, party sources and political analysts said on Tuesday.

Opposition parties on Tuesday demanded his immediate resignation following the emergence of a number of allegations about him in the Durban trial of Zuma's financial advisor, Schabir Shaik.

The Democratic Alliance said if Zuma fails to stand down, President Thabo Mbeki should order him to do so. United Democratic Movement leader Bantu Holomisa has demanded that Zuma must "go immediately" - and Patricia de Lille's Independent Democrats have called on Zuma to stand down as deputy president until the courts have found him guilty or not.

However, informed sources have said it is highly unlikely that the presidency or the African National Congress will take the matter further - and that if Zuma is to be replaced as deputy president, this will, more than likely only happen after the national elections next year. This, they said, is largely due to Zuma's immense popularity in the movement.

The ANC has already indicated that it will not conduct an internal investigation into allegations against Zuma, who, with his deep roots in the movement, his position on HIV/Aids and his working class background, has a deep resonance and a huge following among the ANC rank and file.

Political analyst Sipho Seepe on Tuesday added weight to these assertions, saying it is extremely unlikely that Zuma will be asked to leave the government. Seepe said the culture of the ANC organisation is to rally around its leaders - adding that he believes this is what will happen in the Zuma case. He added that there is no culture of accountability in the organisation.

Idasa commentator Judith February said the ANC will be hurt politically by the recent developments in the party, saying they have done little to promote the ANC's moral regeneration movement and its pushing of the "clean cadre" concept. February said public perceptions of clean governance have been dashed and there is a sense in the country that "something is rotten in the state of Denmark".

At a press conference yesterday, DA leader Tony Leon called on parliament to convene an ad hoc committee to launch an exhaustive, multiparty public inquiry into the arms deal "so that we, the people of South Africa, can be fully informed about what has been done in our name".

"It is time that the people of South Africa knew all the facts", Leon said. Leon described President Mbeki's "silence and inaction" on the Zuma issue as "unconscionable".

"They stand in sharp contrast to his brazen speculation last month about the future of the Scorpions unit."

Calling for an immediate judicial commission of inquiry, UDM leader Holomisa said Mbeki and the ANC must realise that the interests of the country must supersede the interests of the party and the individual.

"Now that the charge-sheet against Schabir Shaik is public knowledge, nobody can doubt the depth or scope of the alleged criminal activities that reflect directly on the Deputy President. It is clear from these charges that it was only the status of his office that has thus far saved Mr Zuma the embarrassment of being arrested and charged," Holomisa said.

De Lille said while she believes that the law should take its course, because Zuma has been at the helm of the moral regeneration campaign, he should stand down until the courts have found him either guilty or not guilty.

Meanwhile, Richard Young, the former Pietermaritzburg man who has taken the government to court over alleged corruption in the arms deal process, on Tuesday described the charge sheet against Shaik - and implicating Zuma - as "devastating".

"It makes even the most frightening crime novel look tame," Young said. "I cannot possibly see how Jacob Zuma can stay in office."

With acknowledgements to Sue Segar and The Natal Witness.