Vote for the Sunday Times Mampara of the Year (2016)

It is that time of the year again when Sunday Times readers get to vote for their preferred candidate for Mampara of the Year.

We have decided to exclude one individual from the list of nominees even though he is a natural candidate: President Jacob Zuma. Instead, we have conferred on him a Lifetime Mampara award for his consistency in embarrassing the republic.

While there are plenty of candidates to chose from, we've narrowed down the list:

1. Penny Sparrow – for her racist rant about black people “invading” the beaches

2. Professor Maguvhe - the chairman of a one person board at Faulty Towers who told the parliament inquiry : “I don’t know anything ”

3. Social Development Minister Bathabile Dlamini —who expressed a wish to get physical with Port Elizabeth residents who criticised her work

4. EFF leader Julius Malema—who threatened to overthrow a democratically elected government through the barrel of the gun.

5. NPA boss Shaun Abrahams - he won the Mampara award twice, first for attending a meeting at Luthuli House a day before making a major announcement and then for charging Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan on spurious grounds —and changing his mind.

6. Hlaudi Motsoeneng - If he was not banning footage of protesters behaving badly, he was hijacking funerals of celebrities in a bid to keep himself in the news.

7. Andile Lungisa - he featured as a Mampara for allegedly attacking a fellow councillor with a glass jug during an altercation at a Nelson Mandela Bay Metro council meeting.

8. Dudu Mazibuko - the KwaZulu-Natal mayor who saw no wrong in subjecting young women to virginity tests to qualify for bursaries.

9. Alan Knott-Craig – the former Vodacom boss who claimed in his book that he had invented the “please call me” service popular with many South Africans, only to be exposed in court for having stolen the idea from a staff member far junior to him.

VOTE HERE (voting closes 12pm 28 December: