There were many times in the past week when people across our nation questioned what was wrong with SA and wondered where leadership would come from.

Who would have had the skill to pull off a spectacular hit on Gavin Watson?

'How do you envisage a post-Cyril scenario?" a senior ANC member asked me recently.I asked if he meant in five years. "No," he said. "Sooner."

A South African expatriate in Hong Kong became a social media sensation this week when a video was posted of her tearfully lamenting the clashes between riot police and pro-democracy protesters in the city.

During a visit to Turkey in 2015, I kept questioning why society there was not up in arms about the escalating onslaught on the media and judiciary. It was clearly leading to the breakdown of the rule of law and a full assault on democracy.

I have been trying to imagine the scene at last weekend's ANC national executive committee meeting when President Cyril Ramaphosa told those planning to oust him at next year's national general council to "be my guest".

It had to be Thuli Madonsela, of course, who came up with a fitting depiction of what the public protector ought to be.

When people speak of the Estina dairy farm in Vrede you might get the impression of an idyllic, sun-dappled countryside with cows grazing in the green fields. That is not how it is.

One of the few things that unite us as South Africans is the belief that we are exceptional.

A week of reckoning lies ahead. SA has waited for years to hear former president Jacob Zuma respond to the mountain of allegations that he colluded to capture the state for the benefit of the Gupta network.