text: Jacob Zuma commented some months back that he would quite like to be a dictator. At the time we should perhaps have heeded this veiled statement of intent. We didn't because -- even for him -- this seemed impossible. South Africa may be in dire straits but is blessed with a fine Constitution and a still-functioning Concourt, right? Erm, wrong, apparently, given his unilateral manoeuvres of the past year or so.