Well, well, look out Mel Gibson. Thabo has firmly joined the conspiracy theorists in this morning's ANC Today newsletter. It really does seem that Mbeki is getting increasingly paranoid and agitated by what is simple opposition politics. His cries of 'dirty tricks' are coming through in his weekly newsletter, his recent speeches, and his ANC spokespeople. Does he really need to spend so much energy defending his party when he owns 70% of the electorate? Surely he should adopt the classic presidential approach and stay above it?

The DA, as powerful as they try to make themselves seem, are a 12% party, and yet the ANC is playing directly into their hands by getting involved in these leadership spats, which inherently projects the DA into both an automatic 'official opposition' role and one of more equal power in the perception of the public. The latest being the ongoing SCOPA saga. In my view, the ANC should be maintaining their divide and conquer approach. Keep above the petty politics, and let the opposition parties fight amongst themselves. It's what they did so successfully in the recent elections.