When one is faced with an impossible question - the classic one being, which came first: the chicken or the egg - one has to resort to common sense and see that what matters is that we unavoidably have both. Unless you are very desperate to prove a point, the answer cannot be to get rid of chickens and eggs.

So it is with South Africa's parliament, where we are faced with an apparently intractable problem at the moment.

The opposition is claiming President Jacob Zuma is not 'accountable' because he will not attend and answer parliamentary questions as he should; and the African National Congress, the elected party of government exercising power, are claiming the opposition are not 'accountable' by making it impossible for him to do so. The opposition parties are rude to him, shout at him and bang about, walk out, and generally behave in a most unparliamentary manner.

This is born of frustration with President Zuma, who besides his many alleged failings - his complicity in Nkandla only topping a long list - is also president of the majority African National Congress Party; and with the Speaker, who is also Chairperson of the Party. These dual roles have largely escaped comment till recently, because in South Africa everyone is quite used to the ANC ruling the roost. They hardly even take offence when President Zuma states the ANC will in fact rule the roost till the Second Coming.

But either the election of twenty five members of the Economic Freedom Fighters to parliament has changed everything, as EFF supporters are encouraged to insist, or ANC hegemony has grown burdensome. Strictly speaking, it may still be acting in accordance with established ‘parliamentary' protocol and process: it is definitely no longer playing cricket.

However, if parliament is deadlocked (both sides are equally 'wrong') or, worse, if parliament is deprived of all credibility as an institution, who will benefit most? The ANC, the party in power? The Democratic Alliance? The Economic Freedom Fighters? All the other little parties in opposition?

And where, and how, will the voters of South Africa benefit at all from the destruction of the institution that gives them a say, even if the majority, to the annoyance of the rest, choose to vote for the ANC?

The reality is only the EFF, a Leninist party of the left (or of the fascist right: it is starting to be argued) will benefit from the destruction of parliament as it is supposed to work. The 'bourgeois' DA, the other little parties, the voters, will count for nothing after that. Those believing any opposition in South Africa is better than none should be careful what they wish for.

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