While the developed world becomes increasingly secular, South Africa remains a remarkably religious society. Almost 85% of the population believes in a deity, the overwhelming majority (80%) being Christians, and we have a long if not always honourable tradition of invoking His blessing as justification for our actions.

Two out of three voters support the African National Congress. On the present evidence, the ANC may well rule “until Jesus Christ returns”, as former deputy-president Jacob Zuma once boasted. Why, then, is the government apparently so fearful of opposition, that it repeatedly flouts the democratic conventions essential to successful multi-party societies?

During apartheid the leaders of the old National Party set great store in projecting an image of complete imperviousness to current events. Like yesterday’s men, President Thabo Mbeki also appears to believe that to show any sign of flexibility or to respond to popular opinion by deviating from his initial publicly stated position, is to be tainted as weak and malleable.

The Sunday Times’ allegations against Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang – that she is a drunkard and a thief – are the stuff of high drama. They set the ring for a bare-knuckle barney that may leave the minister cast into the political wilderness or else critically limit the way in which the South African media reports on the lives and doings of public figures in the future.

It is a pity that Health Minister, Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, expends more effort carrying out her threats to ‘fix’ her critics than trying to fix the gaping holes in the Health services.

President Thabo Mbeki this week predicted, somewhat wistfully it must be said, that free and fair elections will be held in Zimbabwe in March next year. It is difficult to see how this scenario is likely, given the increasingly erratic behaviour of President Robert Mugabe and the deepening political and economic crisis in that country.

Moves are afoot to “rebrand” former president Nelson Mandela. The Foundation that bears his name says that this is in pursuit of their aim of demythologising the man.

If you want to open a businessman’s mouth, squeeze his pocket. After a decade of silence, corporate South Africa has at last articulated what was obvious to everyone else: Zimbabwe is in “systematic meltdown” and “urgent, sober-minded and decisive leadership” is called for, says Leadership SA president, Saki Macozoma.

Many delicacies are made from unappetising ingredients, such as stomach, brains, and intestines. While some wrinkle their noses at such culinary fare, the frugality that motivates using all of a slaughtered animal is admittedly admirable.

Alarm bells should have sounded when the South African Nursing Council spokesperson dealing with my inquiry into breaches of their disciplinary code told me that her first name was Party-Day.

How pathetic when the citizens of liberal democracies – tolerant societies that emphasise individual liberty, economic freedom, equal rights, and an accountable government under the rule of law – lack the guts to defend those hard-won values.

The Congress of South African Trade Unions and the SA Communist Party are fluent in the language of democracy. They regularly berate President Robert Mugabe over the unravelling of the rule of law in Zimbabwe and President Thabo Mbeki over his ‘autocratic tendencies’.

It is not a case of being implacably opposed to hunting. Aside from the fact that it is hypocritical to rail against it if one is willing to eat meat and wear leather, there are compelling economic and conservation arguments to be made for it.

It is remarkable that during President Thabo Mbeki’s eight-year tenure as head of government, not a single Cabinet minister has been fired. Nor encouraged to retire for health reasons, nor greased out. Nor dumped in the bush, hopefully to get lost and be eaten by a large predator.

There is some buzz about a breakthrough in Zimbabwean politics. Writing in his influential newsletter, Eddie Cross – a well-informed political commentator and balanced despite his ties with the opposition Movement for Democratic Change – talks about ‘surprising and significant developments’ that might herald resolution of the crisis.

Liberalism, with its emphasis on protecting individual rights, has always been the dirty word of South African politics. The liberals were reviled by the Nationalists as communists and traitors; the precise terms of abuse have changed under the African National Congress government, but with no slacking in the degree of antipathy.

Journalists are not a much-loved part of society, however crucial they may be to its state of health. Among the unfriendly epithets hurled at them are accusations of being scavengers, hyaenas, and rabid pack dogs.

Barring a bolt from the blue, Helen Zille will tomorrow (Sunday) be elected as the new Democratic Alliance leader. It is not difficult to predict that she will immediately mollify her defeated rivals, Joe Seremane and Athol Trollip, with important appointments.

It must be a real bugger finally to have taken control of this healthy, vibrant, ongoing concern – to whit, the Republic of South Africa – and to find the map littered with place, street and building names that remind one of the previous baas. And since the historical contribution of our black forebears has been ignored, how could one take umbrage that the African National Congress wants to redress the balance with judicious name changes?

It is sometimes what political parties agree upon, rather than what they argue about, that mostly clearly defines them. The picture emerging over the past fortnight from our parliamentarians is one of greed and an overblown sense of self-importance.

Health minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang is justifiably excoriated for her unscientific views of HIV/Aids. Equally risible, however, are recent attempts to promote so-called “indigenous forms of knowledge” as a substitute for, rather than adjunct to, Western medical science.

Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe’s palpable contempt for Movement for Democratic Change leader Morgan Tsvangirai, British Prime Minister Tony Blair, and President Thabo Mbeki is understandable. He has yet to lose a round against any of them and there is no reason to imagine that this is going to change any time soon.

Tomorrow is April Fools’ Day and in time-honoured fashion around the world people will be trying to dupe one another with practical jokes. Even normally serious news media get involved and most South African newspapers published tomorrow will have some outrageous hoax item, with the onus on the reader to spot it and not be taken in.

Many whites are dyed-in-the-wool racists who still live in fear of the ‘Kaffir hordes’ descending upon them. That is the opinion President Thabo Mbeki, expressed last week in his Letter from the President on the African National Congress website.

It is all Morgan Tsvangirai’s own fault, President Robert Mugabe will argue. Such despicable behaviour of the leader of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change, to throw himself upon the fists, boots and staves of the Zimbabwean police until he had to be taken into the intensive care section of a Harare hospital with a fractured skull, brain injury and internal bleeding.