Dinners, dreams and the damage done ...

I HAD a rather disconcerting dream during the early hours of Wednesday last week: I dreamt that I went to dinner in a giant marquee in the garden of the State President's home, Mahlamba Ndlopfu ("new dawn" in Shangaan).

This part was in fact "true". On April 27 I was invited to the awards ceremony of the national orders - Orders of Mendi, Ikhamanga, Baobab, Luthuli, Mapungubwe, and Companions of OR Tambo - and there was a dinner afterwards in a giant tent.

But in my dream, I also had - in front of everyone! - a rather intimate rapprochement with one of my many enemies (this one, female). And, goodness me, James Randolph Vigne (Order of Luthuli, silver) and Lord Joel Joffe (Companion of OR Tambo, silver), and various other medal winners or their representatives, were right there.

What might be the meaning of this embarrassing performance by my unconscious? What would Daniel (of the Old, or main, Testament) have made of it? Could it hold as much significance as, for example, Jacob's dream of the angels ascending and descending on a ladder?

I wondered about this because it also occurred to me that May 6 a year ago was the day on which Parliament voted Jacob Zuma to be the fourth president of a democratic South Africa.

So that - notwithstanding a number of events since the beginning of February, and notwithstanding having "to make friends" with those he might consider to be enemies - could the significance of my dream be that Zuma is planning to try for a giant toenadering with all those who comprise our fractious society at the moment?

It all started with the news of his love child on the last day of January.

And, in my view, no matter what the politicians said publicly, it was not - among them - about "ethical" issues. It was not about infidelity or polygamy or women's rights. It was not even about using condoms.

The nub of the matter was that it was suddenly clear - from the massive silence of Zuma's allies - that everyone was feeling miffed with him. It was also suddenly clear that Zuma had been trying to appease everyone - all the various factions vying for power at the top of the ANC and squabbling with one another.

But the trouble with trying to appease everyone is that you please no one.

You cannot keep all your promises to everyone; and everyone tends to grow irritated if - when they are at each other's throats or in some cases just trying to do a good job - it turns out that Zuma has mostly been focusing on having a good time - that he has been cavorting in his PJs when he ought to have been working.

The exposure of Zuma's relationship with Sonono Khoza and their child out of wedlock, was a watershed moment for Zuma. He had been speared by the fickle finger of his own brand of conciliatory politics. The response to his peccadillo served to demonstrate just how exasperated all his "supporters" were feeling because no one had in hand yet what he or she really wanted.

However, since the end of January, a great deal of water has run under the bridge. The embarrassing second State of the Nation address and the performance of the British media about Zuma are largely forgotten; the left and the not-so-left members of the alliance have temporarily buried the proverbial hatchet; Julius Malema of the ANC Youth League, is, as I write, facing a disciplinary hearing (so there is some cessation in moves to plunder the mines and the Reserve Bank) and Trevor Manuel seems to have emerged from a long sleep and to be back at the drawing board again.

And of course, the impending Fifa World Cup is going to remove some of the heat off Zuma's back.

But, notwithstanding the present pre-world cup lull, it seems that the damage has been done - and that thinking that Zuma can patch up his various coalitions with different support bases, or restore them to their previous state, is a bit of a dream...

This article appeared in the Daily Dispatch. The second edition of Gordin's biography of Zuma is due on the shelves at the start of June.

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