Lines in the legislature

When New Oom Paul was going off at the DA ministers, expecting them to be ashamed of coming to work having not supported the budget, I was quite impressed that the deputy president was familiar with shame as a concept.

- Richard Chemaly

When New Oom Paul was going off at the DA ministers, expecting them to be ashamed of coming to work having not supported the budget, I was quite impressed that the deputy president was familiar with shame as a concept. But even he, with his incredible philosophical prowess, pitched up to work after his party got knocked down by some 3.5 million votes.

Not only must the job still get done, but in South Africa we don't vote for our executive, at least not directly. It's this whole checks and balances thing that the constitutional drafters called the separation of powers. And people still need to go to work. I figured New Oom Paul was alive to that given that he had no qualms taking up his executive post.

The separation of powers has been the gouty knee of democracy across the world; to please his backbenchers, David Cameron called a stupid referendum.