The dramatic scenes of last Thursday in parliament were entertaining only to those who have no stake in the destiny of the black nation.

It may appear like the usual political games that typify vibrant democracies, but the devaluing of the political centre of our forged society is unmistakably under way.

We do not seem to be far from the point where children are unable to distinguish parliament from a circus, a place where actors jostle to showcase their giftedness in clownery.

Some parliamentarians were evidently thrilled by the brouhaha. Others swelled with righteous indignation. Yet history will not differentiate when the time finally comes for it to judge.

Is there reason, really, for history to be kinder to either side?

Is it not the ANC that has imposed a dodgy president on us? Or are there no grounds for the EFF to view parliament as an extension of the battlefield that stretches from the point when Julius Malema was kicked out of his former party?

If there is an element of clownery in President Jacob Zuma, the knavery giggler, surely the EFF's antics cannot make sense outside the very theatre of clowns.

It is true that a nation without a sense of humour cannot lay claim to the fullness of humanity. But the inability to distinguish a circus from parliament casts light on the dark borderland between animalism and humanness.

For so nascent and fragile a nation as South Africa, the stakes are far higher than a pastime penchant for pure philosophy.

When all the gravitas of our parliament has been sapped, what shall step into its place to embody our national will?

Some might contend that, clownery notwithstanding, nothing will end the mere existence of parliament as an institution.

Surely there is a point in such an argument.

The only thing, though - and perhaps the most salient - is that it hinges on recklessness. It shrugs its shoulders about our collective image as a nation.

The time should still be fresh in our minds when racists worked very hard to convince the world that black people are, by their very nature, incapable of sound moral judgment; the corollary being that disorder is a mark of blackness.

It would seem that the ANC under Nelson Mandela was conscious of the need for black leaders to conduct themselves in such a way as to debunk racist claims about black people as a whole.

Such consciousness was abundantly evident in the conduct of former presidents Thabo Mbeki and Kgalema Motlanthe.

This trio - Mandela, Mbeki and Motlanthe - were truly presidential, and therefore a source of pride to the black nation.

The drama of last Thursday does not only mark the reversal of the progress South Africa had made since 1994; it emboldens racists to say, "We told you so. Look at their parliament!"

It does not matter whether you are ANC, EFF, IFP or an ordinary Joe; for as long as you are black, the clownery in parliament is yours too.

When the world looks at Jacob Zuma, it sees a black president - your and my president. In other words, the world asks: Why do black people accept being led by such a dodgy character?

Similarly, the world sees black people in the disorder of the EFF. To say to the world that you are black and different from your EFF brothers and sisters is to take pride in Barack Obama's blackness while excluding Robert Mugabe from the very blackness of your being.

This collectivist conception of blackness will definitely trigger the ire of black liberals in our midst. But their howls of protest cannot erase the facticity of national characters. The Chinese are as distinctly real as are whites, Indians, blacks, or coloureds.

Such distinctions are not the product of a fanciful manufacturer; they are nature's children, and can be denied only by a mind distorted by the most inebriating idealism.

In a nutshell, the drama in parliament brings into question the character of black people as a whole.

The fact that we have Zuma as our president speaks volumes for black people's collective moral judgment. Are we capable of repudiating a flawed personage, even if he is black?

Behold the African continent. Is there not ample evidence of devastation caused by the failure of our race to make sound moral judgments?

Before some impetuous blacks rush for their daggers to finish off the poor soul who penned this column, they should consider reintegrating themselves into their black folk by pondering the question: What must be done to rescue the collective image of black people in South Africa?

The tormented souls of our long-departed African ancestors can be heard wailing from the furthest edges of our troubled land. They are denied rest by the foolish deeds of their great grandchildren, we who are today busy destroying the last hope of the black man - South Africa.

Such is the deepest meaning of the disorder in our parliament, our new House of Clowns.