Fluxman broke down on air, while being forced to read out the news of the break up of his marriage because of his wife’s affair with Boesak, on breakfast television.

As for the sex angle, well we can look back at Clinton (“put some ice on it honey”), Lloyd George, Kennedy and a few others, enough to know that the sort of hormones that see you through the rigours of politics are often also the sort that give you a very active sex life. Not to minimise the gravity of the charges against him of course.

As always, judge by actions not words. If he gets in and pulls the rug from under Mugabe, well I for one won’t be wasting too much time worrying about corruption charges. We’ve seen Mark Thatcher create a fortune out of nothing when Mum was PM. We’ve seen the Mandelson Mortgage, the F1 Ad Scandal etc etc etc. We’ve seen ex Ministers taking fat cat salaries. We’ve seen all sorts of goings on among our own supposedly upright politicos. Let’s not raise the bar for South Africans – and let’s not lower it either.

On the subject of “coloureds”, I think my old university friend (even though a right on lefty) was quite happy to be described as a coloured in a South African context. He was always very proud of the communist influence within the ANC by the way.

NickSA: What was that banned ad meant to be advertising?

It’s an SABC – South African Broadcasting Corporation – social commentary ‘ad’, Mzansi is a synonym for South Africa. It caused a bit of a stir and was pulled.

The role reversal thing was rather well done. Of course it aint quite that simple in reality now.

NickSA: What was that banned ad meant to be advertising?

David Lindsay: Its not his marital affairs which make it an embarassment to cite Boesak as a fine role model- ( I knew the cuckolded husband of Elna) it’s the fraud conviction. Stealing from your own charity- sies.

Nick (ex South Africa): It is true that India has gone through a number of peaceful transitions of power. But remember that when Indira Ghandi and the ruling Congress Party was first seriously threathen in 1975 with being turned out of power, they declared a State of Emergency locking up thousands of their opponents and established authoritarian rule which lasted until Ghandi and Congress were voted out at 1977 elections. Elections that they allowed to occur because they were sure that the majority of the Indian people were too intimidated by Emergency Rule to vote against Congress.

Annie, I’m glad your problem has been resolved. Doesn’t Die Hond van God sound remarkably reminiscent of the Hound of Heaven by Francis Thompson?

South Africa, during the apartheid era, most certainly did censor.

Yup, only competely! The press is relatively free in SA now. This is marker to watch very closely.

Mind you, this ad was pulled. I thought it rather good!

Are there any good South African blogs we can link to? Especially any written by a black South African?

I’m sure there are; but I don’t follow any SA political blogs…if I did I would most probably loose the will to live!

At best South Africa might be like India, at worst Nigeria.

Yup, but India is a proper democracy, it’s had a number of transitions of power. South Africa is what I would call a nascent democracy. The real test will come when the ANC are threatened at the polls. Will they resort the African stereotype – violence, intimidation, corruption and rigging? I hope not, but all the indications are, that they will.

Boesak’s sexual past certainly bears comparison to Zuma’s sexual present, if that is the criterion.