JOHANNESBURG - Hashtag Zuma has been trending on Twitter after President Jacob Zuma made an apology on national TV for breaching his oath of office.

The scandal is arguably the biggest yet to hit Zuma, who has fended off accusations of corruption, influence peddling and even rape since before he took office in 2009. It comes ahead of local elections that could see the ruling African National Congress (ANC) lose support.

South Africa's top court on Thursday held that Zuma had failed to uphold the Constitution by ignoring instructions to pay back some of the R246 million in state funds spent on renovations at his sprawling residence at Nkandla.

A report in 2014 identified a swimming pool, cattle enclosure, chicken run, amphitheatre and visitor centre as upgrades to the compound that were not related to security and that Zuma must pay for.

Meanwhile, South Africans have again brought some humour to a rather serious topic.

Ahead of the president's speech, many thought he would resign but when the outcome was different social media was abuzz.

If I was Thabo Mbeki I would approach the CCMA with a case of unfair dismissal. #Zuma

— Gary Meyer (@garymeyerza) April 2, 2016

#Zuma is SA's Mugabe. He'll never leave and his #ANC will forever subjugate us to their greed & corruption, we must force them out or suffer

— (((stephenstrydom))) (@stephen_strydom) April 2, 2016

#Zuma You have violated the highest law of the land - and your oath of office: you are a disgrace! #zumamustgo pic.twitter.com/yOnN6kIdx1

— Lionheart (@Lion_for_Truth) April 2, 2016

#Zuma is simply not worthy of the office entrusted to him - @MmusiMaimane

— Democratic Alliance (@Our_DA) April 1, 2016

Difficult to understand how a president can stand in front of his people and tell bare-faced lies, & be able to live with himself #Zuma

— Barney Mthombothi (@mthombothi) April 1, 2016

You call South Africans to convene urgently on a FridayNIGHT to tell us u Sorry ... we're a joke to you #Zuma ?!?!? pic.twitter.com/grTAa18INw

— Lerato Monyatsi (@Lermon) April 1, 2016

In true South African style people took to Twitter to poke fun after he delivered his message.

Comedian Trevor Noah had a sarcastic message.

That was fun. We should do it again.

— Trevor Noah (@Trevornoah) April 1, 2016

While other users posted pictures of Zuma celebrating that he is still the head of state.

ANC SHOWS UNWAVERING SUPPORT

The ANC says it is willing to apologise to the nation following a Constitutional Court judgment that found uma to have acted in an inconsistent manner to the highest law of the land, but does not believe it is obliged to do so.

The party has responded following the judgment on Thursday which found that Zuma and Parliament failed to uphold, respect and defend the Constitution through his handling of the Nkandla scandal.

The ANC has also come out in support of Zuma, saying it appreciates his apology and believes neither he nor Parliament intended to break their oaths.

The party's Secretary General Gwede Mantashe said the top six were unanimous in their response to the Constitutional Court's judgment.

Mantashe said the ruling party is willing to apologise if there is a need to do so.

"The ANC is willing to offer an apology, if we're called upon to do that, we'll do it."

However, it wasn't all humorous. United Democratic Movement leader Bantu Holomisa was one of the many who was not impressed at all, saying Zuma not resigning is an insult to South Africans.

#ANC&Zuma are showing South Africans middle finger. Time 4 SAns to talk mass action against this arrogant crew.

— Bantu Holomisa (@BantuHolomisa) April 1, 2016

#Zuma the only thing left of us as the people who value constitution is to mobilize our people to remove this socalled president&his friends

— Zwelinzima Vavi (@Zwelinzima1) April 1, 2016

Editor's note: Earlier we reported that National Assembly speaker Baleka Mbete had apologised via Twitter. This was incorrect. The account in question does not belong to Mbete. We apologise for the error and have corrected it.