In democracies, governments are meant to do what the people want. In this democracy, the government is expected to do what about a third of the people want.

The public debate — which here means the one in five people who might express an opinion on social media and those who can grab the attention of regular media — is back in witch-hunt mode. The latest target is public enterprises minister Pravin Gordhan and, by proxy, President Cyril Ramaphosa. Both are held personally responsible for deep-seated problems that began long before they took office and will be around as long as the people with a voice continue to believe they can be solved by replacing one politician with another...