DARREL BRISTOW-BOVEY: Democracy is not perfect, but it’s one of humanity's brightest ideas
There were a number of reasons why it was annoying to hear the ANC in parliament refer to the vote of no confidence as an attempted coup. One of those reasons is obviously that it's so infuriatingly inappropriate for a band of criminals to call criminal a legal effort to curb their criminality. If you're a pickpocket and the cops come round to collar you, you can try to run away or you can try saying: "It wasn't me, I'm innocent" — that's still playing the game — but it's just downright offensive to indignantly accuse the cops of trying to kidnap you. But it's doubly annoying because one of the good things we have left, despite the best efforts of the Zuma gang and despite pressures and disruptions from some of the forces opposed to them, is a resilient constitutional democracy, one that operates through procedural safeguards and legal pathways rather than through violence and force, and if it carries on this way the ANC may some day have reason to be extremely grateful that we do. ...
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