You can almost hear the frustration of the constitutional court judges: "What do we have to do to get this woman to behave?" Social development minister Bathabile Dlamini seems to have gone her own merry way since 2014, paying no attention to a series of rulings from the highest court in the country. Some people get nervous after a brush with the law and commit to staying on the right side of it in future. Even having a camera trained on speeding drivers can render most compliant. But not Dlamini, a serial transgressor whom neither the court nor any parliamentary committee has been able to rein in, despite considerable effort. As part of the president’s coterie, Dlamini personifies the threat that Jacob Zuma poses to this country. She demonstrates just how weak democracy is if key players refuse to abide by at least some of the rules. Dlamini, like so many of Zuma’s cronies, refuses to play by any rules. And because the various institutions tasked with enforcing these rules have bee...

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