We all like to feel safe and protected from those who would do us harm. We raise our suburban walls, top them with razor wire and sensors, and hire armed-response squads in black battle-wagons. We're comforted by the menacing paraphernalia because we know the police can't look after us.They're too busy protecting Jacob Zuma from . something.The president has recently upped his personal close-protection team of bodyguards to 88. At any one time he has 22 goons at hand, in bulging jackets, murmuring into microphones. In recent weeks, there have been even more in attendance, in combat gear, toting assault rifles.Zuma's administration has increased the VIP guarding budget by a cool 50% in just three years. It's reported that 5000 officers are watching our politicians' backs.They must feel so nice and safe. And there might even be some fuzz left over to check on the rest of us. In fact, there's one cop for every 346 citizens. Relax. Just keep the panic button handy.So, what is No 1 soiling himself about? Who knows? Security experts say there is no obvious threat to his life. OK, there was that alleged poisoning from within the bosom of his own family - away from the gaze of the muscle.Zuma's enemies are in the political realm - parliamentary insults, stadium boos, excoriation in the media, manoeuvring in "stab alley" (metaphorical, of course). Men with full metal jacket ammo can't help him there.Our guess is that Zuma just wants to appear and feel more powerful and important. A man who's been looked up to for many years because of his political allegiances is suddenly facing the horror of mass loathing.He's kept the ANC caucus under his thumb with glowers and veiled threats - "persuasion" of the sinister kind. But that's not possible when you're dealing with a free population not dependent on party patronage.Like many a "big man" in Africa, his instinct is to puff-up, bling-up and tool-up...