The cringeworthy testimony by deputy minister of transport Dikeledi Magadzi at the Zondo commission is a sad reflection of our politics and a confirmation of our new status as an idiocracy. Magadzi was testifying on her role as the chairperson of the portfolio committee on transport in 2016 when the ANC instructed its MPs to vote against an opposition motion to investigate the Guptas’ role in state capture.

It took Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo three attempts for Magadzi to finally concede that the committee might have been in dereliction of duty by not exercising its oversight function...