When the show is over, and rooms which once throbbed with secrets and money and predatory intent are now full of mislabelled boxes and hollow-eyed nobodies; when the lies are recited as much as a ritual as a genuine attempt to deceive; when the best hope is to pawn the last shreds of oneself for a handful of brass beads dropped by the proper looters when they got out years ago; there comes a moment when all that’s left is the truth.

On Sunday the undead ruin of the ANC finally got there, as Mmamoloko Kubayi, Minister of Does It Really Matter Any More, announced that the party would not, in fact, be meeting the targets outlined in its National Development Plan by 2030...