So much of what we see around us is surreal. How on Earth can we be voting in an election where the governing party itself has pointed out that almost 100 of its own candidates are suspected of acts of corruption?

Anyone who read Zuma's Zombies, Marianne Thamm's story in last week's Daily Maverick DM168 newspaper, would probably have been as appalled as I was. It was about "the sycophants who paid a high price for their blind political loyalty to Msholozi", and included a collation of the long list of ANC members who so happily facilitated what she calls "Jacob Zuma's long rampage to kleptocracy".

Thamm wrote about those who had been held accountable, either by law or circumstance, but also about the much, much larger number who have gotten away with it.

I know what you're going to say. Why am I so surprised? I'm not Cyril "Shocked" Ramaphosa, and it's not as if the rampant corruption and crime detailed in Thamm's story are new. They've all been exposed over the preceding years, thanks to the great investigative work of journalists from a number of reputable news titles, and in some cases, thanks to the bravery of whistle-blowers. But all together on a page, it just looks more ... discouraging, I guess. More enervating.

But the really shocking thing isn't how much corruption there has been. It's the fact that many of the people in the story are...