THE debate about honouring former Bophuthatswana leader Lucas Manyane Mangope is raging in newspaper pages and on the airwaves.

When someone called me on radio to say the ANC must leave Mangope alone and not interfere with plans to name a residence at the University of North West after him, I got so excited, thinking this would provoke a heated debate.

Surely a black person calling for the honouring of a Bantustan leader, whose relationship with the apartheid government is seen to have been instrumental in the oppression of black people, would evoke strong dissent, especially among black people?

As this person sang the virtues of Mangope, I rubbed my hands together in glee, anticipating a showdown and a riveting debate. I was convinced that other listeners would phone in, tear the speaker apart and disagree vehemently.

Alas! there was no debate because only two out of about 50 callers - the majority of whom were black - disagreed. They all felt Mangope deserves honour.

Their reasons had less to do with Mangope's achievements than with the ANC's lacklustre service delivery record. They argued it was rich of the ANC in North West to point fingers at Mangope, when their own municipalities were dysfunctional.

Ten years ago I doubt that a whole hour on a radio show would be dominated by black callers arguing for Mangope to be honoured.

One caller asked: "What is the value of democracy if it comes with corruption and poverty?"

Obviously, the former homelands were built on the silencing of dissent, corruption and one man being more important than his people. But callers were prepared to overlook that and wax lyrical about Mangope.

How could recently liberated people have such short memories? And then it dawned on me that they were not longing for that diabolical ideology called apartheid and the grouping of black people along tribal lines, but rather for the basic things in life, such as housing, sanitation, food, jobs, safety etc.

All they wanted were hospitals that work, schools that function, houses that don't collapse and municipalities where money does not disappear.

This, they argued, was what Mangope achieved.

And then the sadness overwhelmed me.

Barely 17 years after the storming of Bophuthatswana and the euphoric celebration of its reintegration, are people now in mourning?

Was it nostalgia or a profound disappointment at a democratically elected government that has promised much but delivered little?

I was sad that South Africans have been duped into believing they deserve so little. That somehow the only choice available is a homeland that comes with basic services but no civil liberties and a democratically integrated country with no service delivery.

Both systems are equally revolting, but somehow the shattered dreams of today make the past seem glorious.

The reminiscing about the past did not end there. As former president Thabo Mbeki launched his foundation, black and white callers to the station were heaping praise on him for his "splendid" interviews, composure and intellect.

This is the same man who two years ago was "cold, austere and out of touch with the people".

This week he was described by listeners as "presidential, insightful and a visionary". Clearly, his handling of HIV-Aids, Zimbabwe, "trust me on Selebi" and his pursuit of a third term as ANC president were "minor" faults, according to his many praise-singers.

One listener insisted I must concede the "genius" of Mbeki. No matter how many times I invoked the negatives to bring perspective to the debate, the listener said: "If Mbeki were asked about the rand, would he have answered like our president?"

In response to a question about the strong rand hampering export growth, JZ had answered: "These matters are always discussed. It's a matter we are discussing. Even economists don't have one view."

Clearly affability and dancing skills do not make a president!

The ANC should learn from this. Being complacent and arrogant is not going to work.

People cannot be fed the liberation diet for much longer. They know that food, housing, health care and education are just as crucial as democracy and liberation.

They must worry that the things that were hard to bear now seem sweet to remember.