The DA’s urgent appeal to Western countries to monitor our upcoming election has shocked and confused many, implying as it does an inexplicable belief that the ANC has the organisational skill to rouse itself from its current state while slowly mashing a custard doughnut into its own face, to steal an entire election.

Of course I understand the DA’s anxiety, at least in theory. The ANC is the only current political party in SA that has helped to steal a national election, and if Thabo Mbeki was willing to cancel democracy in Zimbabwe just to do a friend a solid, I can imagine that some people are worried about what the current lot might do to stay attached to the Treasury teat...