“The prestige of the ANC should not be sacrificed at the altar of political expediency and thuggery. When we see thugs among us we must call them out because the ANC is not an organisation of thugs. It is an organisation that has a great lineage of leaders, members [and] people who have always been disciplined.”

These are the words of ANC president Cyril Ramaphosa. He was referring to how an ANC branch general meeting in Mpumalanga degenerated into chaos at the weekend, with party members shooting each other. Two people were injured...