It is remarkable that an election that is only weeks away and whose outcome will determine the country's fortunes has almost been overshadowed by the hue and cry about corruption, crooks and gangsters.
Corruption has become the currency by which we are now identified. It's not only our identity, it's also a vehicle to success or power. The corrupt, like cream, rise to the top.
What is disheartening is that we've unwittingly integrated it into our culture, custom or our everyday lives.We're told, for instance, that Cyril Ramaphosa has made a blunder by choosing Naledi Pandor as his running mate. This apparently won't go down well with the all-powerful branches that elect the new ANC leader. If Ramaphosa is serious about winning the ANC presidency, the wise men contend, he should have gone for David Mabuza, the crooked premier of Mpumalanga.
Now Pandor, as her name suggests, is a star, an unsung hero - a good pair of hands, a singular mind. She has quietly given unstinting and stellar service to the country. There hasn't been a whiff of impropriety in all the ministerial portfolios she has held, which in itself is a feat in a government that's swimming in a sewer of scandals. She's a credit to society.
In our desire to highlight the wrongdoings in society, we sometimes ignore or forget to brag about the gems around us. Pandor is one such gem.The only weakness - if that's the word - about Pandor is that she may be a bit unexciting and too posh for the comrades in the branches. But not to bother, nobody's perfect. And also, does she have the knees for the toyi-toyi?
There's also a certain charm about her, unlike Lindiwe Sisulu for instance, not seeking positions. She was recognised, and then anointed. That should appeal to the traditionalists who are often disdainful of those elbowing for positions.
That some of us would prefer Mabuza over Pandor to be the country's potential deputy president speaks volumes about the society we've become - a corrupt and immoral swamp where anything goes. It also shows that we haven't learnt any lesson from the mistakes of the Zuma era. We seem determined to repeat those mistakes by again electing corrupt individuals to positions of power. We keep making the same mistakes and expecting a different and better outcome.We are told that Pandor, unlike Mabuza, has no constituency, which is true. But Mabuza brings more than just votes; he has a caravan of scandals. Ramaphosa could not have appointed Mabuza without owning his misdemeanours.
It would be interesting to find how those votes were acquired, how Mpumalanga, an inconsequential province, has risen to where it is second to KwaZulu-Natal in the number of delegates. Something doesn't add up.
Delegates will be focusing on the leader, not his or her deputy. However, it's important that whoever is elected next month and the slate he chooses should represent a repudiation of what the current regime has been up to, not its embrace or its continuation. The country wants a clear break from the miasma of corruption that has been a byword of the Zuma presidency.
Candidates choose running mates who'd make up for their shortcomings. Bill Clinton, a ladies' man who'd been caught a couple of times with his pants down metaphorically, chose Al Gore, a family man, happily married with beautiful children. Barack Obama, an inexperienced first-term senator, picked Joe Biden, a seasoned Washington insider, who went on to become a devoted No2.The American system is obviously different from ours, but the presidency is almost similar - it's a twosome. The deputy should have the stature or calibre to take over in the event of the incumbent being incapacitated. Pandor fits the bill. Mabuza doesn't. He's a provincial version of Zuma.
But it's not as if Mabuza has no suitors. Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, who's been keeping disreputable company - and lying about it - is dangling a carrot that Mabuza will find hard to resist. They deserve each other. A Dlamini-Zuma-Mabuza ticket is a double act made in hell. It should not be difficult for the voters to decide what to make of it.
With scandals swirling around her, Dlamini-Zuma has been running an odd campaign, which amounts to parroting a few inane slogans passed on to her by Bell Pottinger. Such a seasoned politician surely should have something meaningful to say. She should be eager to tell her story. But she seems always angry and incommunicado. All she knows is that it's her turn to lead.
It's difficult to choose which of the two candidates would be a better prospect for the opposition...