When I happily accepted the invitation to write this weekly column in the early part of last year, I truly - and perhaps naïvely - did not expect to spend quite so much time still thinking and writing about the many alleged misdeeds of former president Jacob Zuma. And yet here we are, in what feels very much like 2011.
Even as I type this first missive of 2021, Zuma and EFF president Julius Malema are reconnecting over a pot of piping-hot tea at what must surely be SA's most famous homestead, that monument to corruption in Nkandla, KwaZulu-Natal.
Speculation is of course rife about the purpose and the likely outcome of this unexpected toenadering, with the more generous theories suggesting that Mr Malema may be encouraging the former president to abide by the ruling of the Constitutional Court and agree to appear before the commission of inquiry into state capture.
That particular horse may, however, have already bolted, since Zuma has become ever more defiant as the criminal justice net has closed in on him.
From sullying the name of Robert Sobukwe by attempted association, to his efforts to drag the reputations of both chief justice Mogoeng Mogoeng and deputy chief justice Raymond Zondo underwater with his own, to all but daring the authorities to issue an arrest warrant against him - Mr Zuma's options for climbing down from his current position are diminishing with every passing day.
So too is the number of powerful friends he has in his corner.
Zuma has conspicuously fewer allies and cheerleaders on his side as compared to his heyday, when ANC MPs in the National Assembly would routinely and unanimously vote against successive efforts to impeach him, and gleefully cheer him on as he escaped scrutiny for the many cases of legal and constitutional misconduct against him.
Certainly, his few remaining allies lack the political clout to enable him to evade justice for much longer - especially in the teeth of a strengthened National Prosecuting Authority and with a fierce and unbowed judiciary occupying SA's apex court.
If Zuma plans to change his victim narrative and co-operate with the authorities, he is going to have to do it fast.
A less generous analysis of the Nkandla high tea on Friday suggests that perhaps a political realignment is afoot - if not between political parties, then possibly between political players.
Certainly, the presence of Ekurhuleni mayor Mzwandile Masina - reportedly the go-between for Zuma and Malema who helped arrange the meeting - suggests as much.
Some have gone so far as to suggest that such a realignment might be based on a common antipathy towards the Zondo commission - possibly even a desire to dismantle it in the court of public opinion.
This would certainly be at odds with Malema's declaration in October last year that he looks forward to testifying before the commission of inquiry, and that deputy chief justice Zondo should go ahead and "vul'igate!"
I agree with EFF spokesperson Mbuyiseni Ndlozi's view that "we can kiss our constitutional order goodbye" if Zuma is not arrested and jailed for his public defiance of the Constitutional Court's ruling against him.
This is a test of the principle of equality before the law in SA; one that former heads of state as far afield as France, Brazil and the US have also had to face in the past few years.
Zuma's experience should be no different.
With a senior leader of the EFF advocating for Zuma to appear before the commission or be arrested, combined with the diminished status of what remains of the former president's faction in the ANC - as evidenced by secretary-general Ace Magashule's swift backtracking this week from his earlier remarks that the constitution "is not sacrosanct" - it seems likely that this is indeed a rapprochement between individuals rather than political organisations.
With local government elections scheduled to take place later this year - and an ANC metro mayor who once declared he would resign from office if Cyril Ramaphosa were to be elected president of the ANC playing matchmaker between political adversaries - Friday's meeting can only lead to valid speculation about what the 2021 post-election map might look like if these men were to join forces politically.
As entertaining as these political intrigues may be, and as much as they may light up social media channels with playful speculation, we should nevertheless remain steadfast in the conviction that former president Zuma has a case to answer - both before the courts and at the commission of inquiry into state capture.
If he fails to abide by the ruling against him, he should face the full weight of the criminal justice system bearing down upon him.
We should not be distracted either by Zuma's jovial posturing on Twitter or by his inflammatory press statements.
He may be a master of playing to the gallery, but the former president's act should have worn thin at least a decade ago.
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