Ten years ago, former president Jacob Zuma fired Nhlanhla Nene as finance minister, marking the end of an era. There are many lessons to be drawn from that event.

South Africa in December 2015 was much like South Africa now. People were planning to go home or on holiday for Christmas. We were obsessed with the value of the rand and whether it would be an El Niño or a La Niña season.

The temperature of our politics had been increasing steadily since Jacob Zuma won the ANC's leadership battle at Polokwane eight years before.

But Zuma was firmly in charge. No one in the ANC would move against him. And, through the ANC, he governed the country, despite having weathered several political storms.

He had given a semi-apology for the government money spent on his Nkandla homestead, while questions were being asked about his "friends", the Guptas. These questions had peaked after Atul Gupta confirmed to EWN's Barry Bateman that a planeload of his wedding guests had received permission to land at Waterkloof Air Force Base.

On Wednesday, 9 December 2015, there was only one indication that everything was about to change -- a report by Sam Mkokeli hinting that Zuma was preparing to move against the finance minister, Nhlanhla Nene.

Even so, while loading my children into the car after a family event that night, I...