The ANC never did encourage dissent or criticism when it was a liberation organisation: it crushed such “problems”, often ruthlessly, even torturing and sometimes killing its own members “when necessary”, notably in its so-called armed wing, Umkhonto we Sizwe (“Spear of the Nation”) – one of the world’s most useless fighing forces ever seen. It is an unpalatable truth, but it happened – it can’t just un-happen.

So its myopic attitude to dissent, which we see all the time now, is understandable. Its change from liberation organisation to political party involved a lot of crashing of gears, so to speak: hardliners were pitted against liberalisers. And the internal struggle goes on … as it must in all political parties. But many in the ANC also reckon their long years in the wilderness, with the self-imposed poverty and hardship, “deserved” to be rewarded when they got into power. It was payback time.

And so it has proved to be – often to the detriment of the millions in shanty towns, or the majority of the country who are not Xhosa, who got almost every key job going, large or small. (For those not familiar with SA demography: Zulus are the largest ethnic grouping; Xhosa next; Tswanas third; and several small groupings making up minorities – of which ‘coloureds’ meaning mixed race, whites and Asians are the best known). But Xhosa’s, like Mandela, ran the show – so Xhosas brushed other ‘tribes’ aside. So much for non-racial politics. No comment is needed.

So the ANC was never perfect: but who said it was? Its mixed constituency of communists, trade unionists, socialists and academics never claimed to be anything they weren’t, such as cosy suburban liberals, like me. But it remains a fact that as SA’s ruling party, they have a lot to learn, and a lot to teach, about free speech, dissent, and yes, non-racial politics. One day even the Xhosa stranglehold on the party may be loosened, perhaps even in Jacob Zuma’s time, since he’s a Zulu. But I’m not holding my breath. It has been what it is for many long decades, and change comes slowly everywhere in the world.

If you notice at every election since 1994, Reuters have always predicted a ‘reduced’ majority for ANC and an increase in support for the DA. You know why? Because Reuters like all others in the western press sympathize with white South Africans only and get their views only from this minority. The reason for this is that most of these journalists are themselves white.

Most of us Africans were dismayed as we watched the western press spew what was essentially white South Africa propaganda.

With the recession enviably about to slam South Africa’s economy into dire straits, one wonders how a man without a formal qualification and who chants ‘bring me my machine gun’ is possibly going to manage the sort of composure and intellectual fortitude required to weather the storm.

This is going to be a disaster. Good luck SA, I am praying for you all.