You would think President Jacob Zuma being booed is a relatively straightforward thing to comprehend: the audience didn’t like him. Not so. It’s much more complex than that. At least, for the ANC it is. That’s what happens when your party is at war with itself — even the simplest things are contested. Watching the ANC and its alliance partners fall over each other trying to explain, downplay, condemn or condone Zuma’s booing has been nothing short of remarkable. Every possible option has been put on the table, and with some alacrity too. Zuma was one of the first out of the blocks. This was a good sign, he said, as he wandered round the World Economic Forum in Durban. It was evidence of a maturing democratic culture in SA. "You will agree with me that in the countries of dictators there is no protest, there is no booing. Protests, debates, booing is part of the culture of democracy. Unfortunately, people misunderstand that and misread it," the president remarked. So all good. Nothin...
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