Like most people I know, including pundits, journalists and wonks, I have trouble seeing beneath the surface of the shark-chummed red ocean that colours our nation's recent political catastrophes. Other than the obvious fact that the subversion of noble ideals and good governance is now firmly and irrevocably entrenched, I continue to be troubled by a single question - to what end? President Jacob Zuma and his backers, brokers, patronees and indentured servants - to what end this lurid abuse of power?It might be straightforward if it were simply a matter of money. But there seems to be more to it than that.The Zuma cabal has been enriched by an unabated stream of state money for more than eight years. From Zuma down, through the scores of enriched national executive committee members, MPs, state officials, local officials and their crooked counterparts in business, the breathtaking extent of the larceny is well recorded.There are also entirely believable rumours of vast stores of cash squirrelled away by Gupta-friendly forces in Middle Eastern countries where financial oversight is nodded and winked into insignificance. I believe money is not the driver - they all have enough for whatever material comforts strike their fancy, with plenty left over to enrich many generations of their heirs.So what else? Power, the other great aphrodisiac that is attached to wealth, is also unlikely to be a goal, although it may well be a means. Some men seek power for posterity. But that's not it, because Zuma (and those in the party who have looked the other way) know that posterity will have no kind memories of this administration. Zuma's posterity is lost, and his legacy will be one of a king of thieves. He knows it well; he clearly doesn't care. It is for this life he connives, not for the one to come.But power is a smooth lubricant for more pressing goals. Let me suggest just two.The president has faced and avoided more than 700 charges of fraud and other financial malfeasance. He knows that a rerun of the charges in the courts would be likely to see him in prison. Incarceration and shame are the antithesis of power. And if he can stack judges, placate legislators, buy patronage, and overturn the mountain of evidence on record, he may well avoid this. It is money that would fuel this power, and it is this power that could close that threat for good.Finally, and most likely, is the narcissist's view of the world which would have Zuma say, "I alone understand the nature of the true transformation we sought. I see it clearly. We have lived under the boot of not only colonialists, but liberalism and clever blacks and the unyielding dictates of democracy for too long. I know what I need, I know what you need. I am king. You will let me rule as I see fit."Remember what he said in July: "If you just give me six months to be a dictator, things will be straight."That is the end for which unfettered power is a precondition. The dreams of the great narcissists and dictators such as Trump, Berlusconi, Mugabe, Erdogan and Zuma. And those small hurdles in his path - a functioning SARS, a governed Treasury, an independent court, an upstanding public protector, a free press, straight-backed ANC appointees - must be removed with speed and prejudice.For the good of all.This article first appeared on Daily Maverick..