JOHANNESBURG - Here, then, is a not entirely gratuitous (I hope), selective snapshot of my life for 12 hours beginning at about 8pm last Tuesday, March 30th.
The first thing that happened - this was during dinner in a sumptuous Johannesburg northern suburbs home - was that a leading advocate, who is also an acclaimed expert on constitutional law, turned on me and said: "You're the fine fellow who lionised our President in that book you wrote. What have you to say now?"
"You must be referring," said another dinner guest, before I had had a chance to open my mouth, "to our polygamous President?"
"His polygamy, love children and apparent dislike of condoms are the least of the problem," said the advocate. "I'm talking about Zuma's complete lack of leadership. I'm talking about that shambles of a cabinet and government in which everyone is squabbling."
"Nolo contendere," "I do not wish to contend," was all I could think of by way of reply. In other words, I was lying down on my back with my tail between my legs and, at least for that moment, admitting defeat - and, for once, not coming to the verbal aid of Zuma.
Later, as I drove home, at about 10.45pm, I made the mistake of flicking on Radio702 to hear Gwede Mantashe, the secretary general of the ANC, and Kieno Kammies, the late night presenter, having a debate about the decision by an acting judge, South Gauteng High Court's Judge Leon Halgryn, to ban the words Dubul'ibhunu ("Shoot the Boer") in the song Ayesaba Amagwala ("The Cowards are Scared").