When deputy president Paul Mashatile quietly collapsed in a speech in Tzaneen on Friday, first swaying gently and then subsiding out of sight behind his podium like the ANC after an election, no-one seemed particularly bothered.

Indeed, to watch the video is to see a man desperately alone: after recommitting himself to ending poverty by 2030, he stands, silent, confused and swaying slightly, for a full 14 seconds before he slurs his way through the same sentence again and then goes down by the stern. ..

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