BANTU HOLOMISA, UDM LEADER
"We can no longer pin our hopes on the current ruling party. They've been on the back foot since 2008, when they took a decision to support President Zuma, who was then a criminal suspect.
"Today as we speak, they are fighting amongst themselves. Unfortunately, that in-fighting has affected the day-to-day administration of South Africa.
"Capital outflows are also creating havoc. Would-be investors are no longer sure whether to come to South Africa. It's worse because we are still guessing: 'What if so-and -o wins, what does that mean?'
"To say you're pinning your hopes on the ANC, on one of these three or four presidential hopefuls –– they have been there defending President Zuma and [suffocating the] caucus. Now [those same people] want to be president of the country?"
NOMBONISO GASA, RESEARCHER AND COMMENTATOR
"I think that [the ANC conference in] December is not as significant as we would like to believe. I think it's important that we also look beyond President Zuma, and accept the fact that the rot is at so many different levels.
"As South Africans, we have to think and imagine the kind of society we want to have.
"I [do still] think it's important... [for] Zuma to leave, and I don't think it would be sustainable for the country to go until 2019 with Zuma and this level of corruption he's presiding over -- we just can't afford that.
"What we need to be talking about, is what kind of future do we envisage? What is it that we want to do? The ANC can follow, but it's up to the people to lead."
SIPHO PITYANA, SAVE SA CONVENER
"The amazing thing is that if you take a rotten cake and you put icing sugar on it, it doesn't stop being a rotten cake. So the December event, for all intents and purposes, is about putting icing sugar on a rotten cake.
"What the ANC has failed to do, is to accept that it is corrupt, bankrupt and sold to the core. In December, there will be an election of new leadership in the ANC whose credibility and integrity will not be beyond question. So the chances are that you will have a leadership with tested and proven credentials in corruption, at local or provincial or national government level.
"If you're going to be led by the same calibre of people who produced a Jacob Zuma, it's highly unlikely the trajectory will be different after December.
"South Africans are being very generous in speculating about the good and bad amongst the leaders that are likely to be elected. The fact of the matter is that they were all a part of the election of Zuma –– not once, but twice. They were all a part of defending Zuma's transgressions that they now attack today.
"The people must make sure the ANC gets punished."