The year 2017 has opened with a political storm about nothing - the ANC succession battle.

Nebuchadnezzar was condemned to eat grass. It seems as though our nation's curse is to chase shadows. Armed with God's best gift - the mind - it is a great paradox that man is deceivable.

All the so-called "presidential" candidates - Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, Cyril Ramaphosa or Baleka Mbete - are either pawns of private interests or are simply vacuous lovers of ceremony.

When we go to sleep, their handlers plot to make you believe that one of them is the Messiah that will save South Africa. Their factories of deception have already produced many myths.

Dlamini-Zuma, we are told, offers South Africa a glorious chance to be led by a woman president who has done exceptionally well in leadership.

That she is female no one can dispute. But that is where it all ends. The rest is fine propaganda manufactured by those who want to use her when she is in office.

Do you know anything that Dlamini-Zuma has ever said about South Africa that is worth remembering? Yes, she has been in the ANC for ages, but the ANC is full of such passenger leaders.

That Dlamini-Zuma was minister of this and that is easy to say. The most difficult thing is to find evidence that her mind is not barren. Where is the new idea she has ever produced?

When all the deception and marketing is done, what remains of Dlamini-Zuma is an instrument to be used by a dodgy former ex-husband who does not want to end his life like Jackie Selebi - in jail.

Ramaphosa also has his own handlers who don't sleep. They have been working very hard to make you believe that he is the Messiah who will save the ANC and South Africa.

There is an allegation that he was central to the drafting of our country's constitution. But he has spent the past seven years destroying the same constitution, side-by-side with President Jacob Zuma. Who builds a house today, and join thugs to demolish it tomorrow? Again, the same question must be answered: Is there anyone in South Africa who has come across an interesting new idea from Ramaphosa's head?

The man has delivered a mountain of speeches in his life, but we all yawn and forget the moment he steps down from the podium.

Our nation's consciousness has found neither word nor sentence from Ramaphosa to preserve. If you are lucky to stumble upon such a thing; please don't be selfish, share it with us.

There is yet another "presidential" candidate - Mbete. To be fair, Mbete handles herself. She tried to collect some useful chiefs in the Eastern Cape to "demand" her leadership in the ANC.

The poor chiefs did not realise that Mbete approached them because no one in the ANC was willing to sound her name. When the "chiefs strategy" failed, Mbete decided to nominate herself through newspapers. It is like a dancer who claps hands for herself because spectators don't appreciate her moves.

The less said about Mbete and ideas the better. Other than empty arrogance and loss of temper in parliament, there is no evidence that she knows what serious thinking is.

Read Obama's book The Audacity of Hope and you will see how real presidential candidates display their knowledge of the countries they intend to lead. You might also want to read World Order by Henry Kissinger, to get a taste of how the mind of a thinking politician works.

We know that the three "presidential" candidates have been members of the ANC for decades, and that they have occupied various positions, but the claim remains unproven that they are capable of producing ideas.

The trite defence that they stand by the policies of the ANC is a clumsy attempt to hide behind a finger. The so-called ANC policies are products of sharp minds like Joel Netshitenzhe. By claiming to stand for ANC policies, the idealess "presidential" candidates imply that they are spokespersons of Netshitenzhe and a few other thinking individuals.

A response to this column is not difficult to predict; you will be given a list of ANC or government positions once held by Dlamini-Zuma, Ramaphosa and Mbete . It is like saying Zuma is a great thinker simply because he once sat in the Union Buildings.

Serious thinking is not about occupying an office; it is about producing and articulating an original idea from your head, not from some amorphous thing called "our movement". Please chase no shadows; the so-called succession debate is a storm about nothing. It revolves around tired, nondescript men and women who cannot tell you what they stand for.