Zondo has become the referee in a jaw-dropping ANC faction fight

I'd really love to get excited about the commission of inquiry into state capture. But one thing has become very clear: it has deteriorated into another arena for the factional fights of the ANC.

And the propaganda war is being televised.

Never since the Convention for a Democratic SA (Codesa) - the multiparty grouping negotiating the transition to a "new" SA - has an event grabbed the collective attention of the nation like the commission.

The inauguration of Nelson Mandela in May 1994 was worthy of celebration and awe-inspiring. But there was no drama. The 1995 Rugby World Cup came close. But it had its limitations because rugby was still for some and not all. Damn, even in that one month when Prince Philip came to our shores in that cold 2010 winter, the Fifa World Cup could not deliver half the adrenaline we have experienced from Parktown, and now Braamfontein.

But by golly, the inquiry into state capture, widely known as the Zondo commission, so named after the presiding chair, deputy chief justice Raymond Zondo, has delivered. Millions of eyes have been glued to their screens following the developments.

From the shenanigans at Denel to the gory stories of the Estina dairy farm; from the electrifying Eskom revelations to the poisonous revelations of asbestos in the Free State. From the accounts of KPMG and PwC to the nonstrategic advice of McKinsey. We've heard it all.

And it seems the best - or worst - is yet to come.

So much has been revealed. Hugely shocking and jaw-dropping. Sometimes irritating. Often unbelievable. And always cringeworthy. There is no doubt a lot has gone on in this country. And a whole lot more we do not know about. But let's face it, for 330 days (and counting) what the nation has been watching is the factional war of the ANC.

More than revealing the corruption of the infamous "nine wasted years" and exposing the hands behind the said state capture, the witness stand has been a stage from which protagonists from the opposing sides of the ruling party have been at each other's throats.

First to come to the witness stand were those that supported or abetted, consciously or subconsciously, the New Dawn faction of party president Cyril Ramaphosa. I deliberately use the party label because, increasingly, I find this commission being about the party, not the country.

Witness after witness, party loyalists and some elders, came forward and bedazzled us with stories of how their own comrades and their purported stooges stole from the fiscus.

The details we were all waiting for about the unlikeable Gupta brothers came thick and fast. Allegations about how former president Jacob Zuma pulled the strings were sprayed all over like graffiti in a ghetto.

Officials from state-owned companies, clearly having suffered silently over the years, were happy and relieved to finally get a chance to reveal details of life during the years of so-called radical economic transformation (RET).

If you hated the Zuma years, and many did, you loved this part of the movie. A sense of painful relief enveloped the country at this point.

"We knew they were looting. How gross. They must all rot in jail." These were just some milder examples of the many expletives screamed in living rooms, buses, taxis and on the golf courses.

At this time, the comrades from the New Dawn were rubbing their hands in glee. They had finally got their man and his puppets trapped. For them, it was just a matter of time before their "enemies" were removed from the scene, allowing them to finally run the party and country unhindered.

But the plot was soon to change. Enter the big guns of the RET and suddenly doubt was created about the New Dawn.

From Jacob Zuma and Malusi Gigaba to former group CEO of Prasa Lucky Montana, former head of generation at Eskom Matshela Koko and, most recently, former Eskom group CEO Brian Molefe, the guns were turned, now facing the accusers.

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Rather than refute the allegations levelled at them the RET brigade laid bare what this commission is really about: a factional fight.

The general theme of their testimony was: "But you were also there during this time. You sought to discredit our deals while the deals that favoured you remain untouched. It was not only the Guptas that were looting; your white friends and benefactors were stealing too. In fact, they stole more than those three brothers from an obscure town in India."

The National Prosecuting Authority has begun to make the right noises. The Hawks are preparing more warrants. It seems, on the face of it, the outcome most have yearned for is finally coming.

But in spite of, or maybe because of the report Zondo will table this year, what will be even clearer is that two sides of the party successfully used this platform to throw mud at each other.

Guilt is going to depend on only two things: who you believe most or who you hate most. As they say in a propaganda war, may the worst man lose.