When they do attend to their jobs, they will use government events to promote the faction they support in the party .

Civil servants who are supposed to render an impartial service will join their political masters in promoting factional programmes.

Expect departmental projects, including budgets, to be diverted to help politicians fight for their survival.

All of the above could be avoided if the ruling party were united and its members pursued their true mandate, which is to serve all South Africans.

The reality is that ANC factions are already hard at work promoting their leadership slates. It is these slates that have in the past briefly paralysed both the party and the government.

It is these divisions that, contaminating government departments, have threatened our democracy.

Those who find themselves on the losing electoral list, no matter how talented or effective in the government, will be out in the cold come Mangaung.

The winner-takes-all mentality that has taken root in the ANC, if not countered, will continue to rob the ruling party of the best talent.

Night meetings at which election candidacies are secretly discussed have already started.

In coming weeks expect every government event to be turned into a political platform.

Ordinary South Africans will be spectators on the sidelines, with no opportunity to influence the outcome of the contestation. But, come election time, the party will lobby them to support its candidate.

Until we have an electoral system that empowers the voter, South Africans will continue to be spectators in a game that has a direct effect on their future and that of their children.