Here's a tricky question: Do politicians have a greater propensity to live in fantasy worlds than everybody else in society? And, if so, what drives them there?

Listen to this article 7 min Listen to this article 7 min I suspect they do but, honestly, I have no proof, outside of just listening to some of the more unhinged politicians among us, of which we seem to have a global oversupply at the moment.

Often reading about something a politician did or said, I can't help wondering whether he or she actually said it (in this age of misinformation). Were the politician's words twisted somehow? Did the reporting fairly represent what the politician actually meant in the context they were uttered? Or is trust and truth fraying with the advent of social media and more advocacy journalism as so many people believe?

I had one of these moments this week reading reports on what the Minister of Mineral and Petroleum Resources, Gwede Mantashe, said at the Investing in African Energy Conference currently taking place in Cape Town. If you look closely, there is a case to be made that he was badly misinterpreted on one topic but, on another, there is a case to be made that we should be told what he had been smoking.

First, where he was probably misinterpreted: Mantashe - never one to...