Philosopher, communist and ANC national chair Gwede Mantashe said the following as part of the ANC’s 110th anniversary celebrations: "Once upon a time, I, Gwede, dreamt I was a butterfly, fluttering hither and thither, to all intents and purposes a butterfly. I was conscious only of my happiness as a butterfly, unaware that I was myself. Soon I awaked, and there I was, veritably myself again. Now I do not know whether I was then a man dreaming I was a butterfly, or whether I am now a butterfly, dreaming I am a man."

It’s a poignant insight into the life of an ANC politician: a place of uncertainty and ineffectuality, but luckily also a place of uncertainty’s fortunate partner, unaccountability. Many of the people sitting in the rarefied atmosphere at the top of the ANC’s upper echelon are philosopher manqués, deeply abstruse thinkers who understand the world very, very differently to you and I...

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