Jacob Zuma’s revelation over the weekend that he served two terms as president on the back of illegitimate elections was quite the bombshell. But there was another, more specific, claim that was no less startling.

In retrospect, Zuma’s interview with Sunday Times political editor Sibongakonke Shoba started quietly enough, with a familiar rehashing of Zuma’s current political project, dedicated to the two noble ideals of staying out of jail and living off other people’s money, and an inevitable reference to May’s elections and how, according to evidence he’s definitely going to show us as soon as the fabrication team is finished, Zuma was robbed. ..