South Africa's leftist aspirations must confront a stark reality: ambition without capability breeds failure. As the state demands more power, it must first demonstrate the drive to deliver.

It is raining hard in Pietermaritzburg, a summer downpour the worn wiper blades of my white Mazda Rustler cannot clear. There is whisky in my blood, an exam in the morning, a passenger beside me, and 80km/h under my foot on Commercial Road.

At the Burger Street robot, the light turns, and I slam on the brakes. The car does what I have always known it would do: it swerves hard to the right, jack-knifes over the centre island and slides into oncoming traffic until a junction box finally stops us. My passenger is hurt worse than I am. I slept in jail that night.

That was 2004, and the fault was no surprise. I knew that car pulled to the right under braking. I never repaired it. I had learnt to master its swaying - and mastering a defect feels, for a while, exactly like competence.

Here is the detail I have carried for 20 years, and I offer it now with a smile: my car pulled to the right. Imagine one that pulls to the left. It makes no difference. A car that pulls under braking is broken whichever way it pulls. For 30 years, South Africa's politics...