Mangaung, the morning after: 10 things we’ll miss

City Press political reporter Carien du Plessis lists 10 things worth missing now that the ANC’s elective conference is over.

1. Warm hugs and being treated like queens by pro-changers like Tokyo Sexwale.
2. Waiting for Kgalema Motlanthe to start his campaign or declare that he will stand.
3. Having President Jacob Zuma as the lead item on every bulletin on the SABC.
4. Witnessing Zuma open a few hundred rural development projects in the countryside every weekend.
5. Hearing people mispronouncing the word Mangaung.
6. The eternal optimism of the “asijiki” crowd, who believed even until the last minute that the conference will bring Julius Malema back.
7. The way a whole lot of people were suddenly nice to Thabo Mbeki again.
8. Being able to explain away any kind of strange behaviour by an ANC politician by attributing it to the upcoming conference in Mangaung.
9. The quirky songs about the shower man and the second term, as well as people confusing the two-finger Kaizer Chiefs salute as meaning that Zuma should come back for a second time.
10. The excitement of the unique prospect of being able to spend a whole week in a scorching hot Mangaung with the comrades just before Christmas.