The centre holds as enough parties give a national unity government the thumbs-up.

You can breathe a little easier. Since South Africa's shape-shifting election result was officially declared last week, our democratic quotient has been remarkably normal. That shows some resilience in our institutions and systems, which should temper the national anxiety.

For one, three institutions have held firm in the face of former president and uMkhonto Wesizwe (MK) leader Jacob Zuma's efforts to turn things upside down. The Electoral Commission of SA (IEC) calmly went ahead with the results announcement on 9 June. Then, on Monday, Parliament wrote to MK saying the sitting of Parliament to swear in new MPs would go ahead without them.

Parliament's spokesperson, Moloto Mothapo, told the new party's MPs that if they didn't plan to attend the sitting, Parliament would cancel their flights and accommodation as it didn't have money to waste. "We remain dedicated to ensuring that the established democratic processes and procedures are upheld in accordance with the laws and Constitution of our country," he said.

On Monday, Chief Justice Raymond Zondo announced the date of the first sitting of the National Assembly. It will be on June 14 (rather than June 16). He also wouldn't let any bloviating cause a vacuum in our democracy....