FINANCIAL Times columnist Gideon Rachman recently wrote a wonderful and thought-provoking column, trying to imagine the questions history students might get asked in 50 years’ time about major issues of the present. On SA, the question he imagined was, "How new is the new SA?" Great question, but I would ask an additional one: "What was Nelson Mandela’s contribution to the creation of the new SA, and why did it not last?"It just so happens that we have a view on this question from none other than our current president, Jacob Zuma, and his answer is unintentionally instructive. The renowned interviewer Tian Wei spoke to him on the World Insight programme aired on Chinese television station CCTV.The questions, as you might imagine, were more than puff-ball, but less than penetrating, and Zuma’s performance was pretty dismal, but contrary to some of the commentary, I didn’t think it was unusually terrible.In any event, he was asked a common question, "What was the most important part o...
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