All eyes are on President Cyril Ramaphosa and members of the National Assembly in this contentious matter, but we citizens are also being put to the test.

In a 2016 Freedom Day article, the Centre for Human Rights at the University of Pretoria asserted that " it is our informed exercise of the freedoms to speak, question and insist on transparency and accountability that can curb corruption and rein in other executive excesses".

These words resonate as I assess the renewed ripples of shock about President Cyril Ramaphosa's Phala Phala scandal. What occurs to me is the question we may not be asking enough, namely, what does this moment require of us as citizens?

Yes, he is at the centre of this controversy, with his sofa stuffed with money many of us could only ever dream of having in our lifetime, but what interests me is our moral take here, and what we should be demanding of the country's first citizen.

This is a moment when we cannot afford to be shaky warriors, because it raises questions of how committed we are to the rule of law and accountability, and what kind of leadership we deem acceptable.

Do we want to just turn the other way because "at least he's better than Jacob Zuma and much more palatable than Paul Mashatile"? And if so, at what cost?...