Laugh, the beloved country

Is it a "ha ha ha" or a "hee hee"?

Zuma's chuckle, giggle, snort at inopportune times in parliament leaves opposition leaders and even members of his own partywondering.

He laughed when EEF MPs were booted out of parliament just before he gave his State of the Nation speech on Thursday night. He laughed again as DA parliamentary leader Mmusi Maimane spoke yesterday.

But what does it mean?

Political analyst Aubrey Matshiqi believes it might not be a laugh but a message. But what it is, he is not sure.

"In Zulu there is a word ukubhuqa, which means to laugh with derision or sarcasm. He might be doing this [to mask] his nervousness," said Matshiqi.

Another political analyst, Shadrack Gutto, believes the laugh was developed when No1 was the ANC's No1 spook.

"I believe he mastered this when he was in the ANC's intelligence structures; a strategy to calm himself while at the same time disarming his opponents."

But it has to go, just like that other Zuma behavioural tick - the middle finger pushing up his spectacles.

Said Matshiqi: "Whatever it is, it is inappropriate and someone needs to tell him that."