I WAS rather hoping to write about something else this morning. Like the six boats that were doled out to fishing co-operatives here in the deep south by the Department of Trade and Industries earlier this week.
Any other time, this would have been on the Mahogany Ridge agenda, and there would've been some discussion as to how this R1.6-million gift would level the small-scale fishing playing fields and the seas would now be flat enough for equal opportunity poaching.
There would no doubt have also been observations to the effect that, with regard to the trawling of voters, it was a great pity that election years did not come around more often, like every three months or so.
Naturally, the fact that Rob Davies, the trade and industries minister, bravely elected to dress as a fisherman for the handover would also have drawn some comment, although some of us believe that is how he normally appears in public; should the occasion warrant a garment that flaps in the wind - brave, baggy-seated trousers, for example, or a large-collared shirt that wants to be a dashiki - then the doughty Davies has wardrobes full of the stuff.
But no, this awful business in the Central African Republic has cast a pall over matters, and we must now give it our full attention. Here is what we know:
In addition to South Africa, the governments of Chad, Gabon, Cameroon, Angola, the Republic of Congo and France had sent troops to the CAR to shore up the government of president Francois Bozizé. That government has now fallen to the rebel Seleka forces, led by a former ally of the president, Michel Djotodia, and Bozizé has fled the country.