Revelations about deputy president Paul Mashatile's lifestyle have gripped the political establishment. News24 published an article this week that painted a picture of a luxurious lifestyle somewhat similar to that of former Italian prime minister and media tycoon Silvio Berlusconi.
Wealth, women and sex scandals became synonymous with Berlusconi after revelations of so-called bunga bunga parties at his Arcore villa near Milan.
So what do we know about Mashatile? He has denied he benefited from notorious entrepreneurs, but he may underestimate the central issue in the accusation of beneficial ownership and the hold his benefactors have over him.
He is accused of having a string of relationships linked to his luxurious lifestyle, way above his official income.
Such allegations serve as a warning in a country that just witnessed another version of Berlusconi in the form of Jacob Zuma and his benefactors.
Political newbie Rise Mzansi has jumped on the Mashatile lifestyle issue, asking the public protector to investigate.
What Rise Mzansi is doing, strategically, is attempting to cover President Cyril Ramaphosa and Mashatile with the cloth of scandal ahead of next year's elections.
Stopping Paul Mashatile will lead to political blood on the floor. He already has one hand on the prize, he simply has to wrestle it away from a wimpish Ramaphosa
South Africans are suffering under Ramaphosa's poor leadership. It is only a matter of time before Rise Mzansi goes to a police station to file a missing persons report.
Disillusioned with Ramaphosa, some are entertaining the idea of a Mashatile presidency. This has to be seen differently in the context of an entrepreneur-beholden lifestyle.
Mashatile denies wrongdoing, but ignores the real issues over his proximity to particular business people.
Dodgy tenderpreneurs are like the parasitic Guptas, who sucked the state for contracts.
Mashatile is almost unstoppable as Ramaphosa's potential successor. His backers will see any character criticism as a campaign sponsored by people who want to hobble his rise.
Stopping him will lead to political blood on the floor. He already has one hand on the prize, he simply has to wrestle it away from a wimpish Ramaphosa.
This situation coincides with South Africa's destiny of messy coalition governments. We have seen in Gauteng municipalities what happens when power hangs between parties.
Something has to give, and that is policy certainty, already a diminishing resource.
South Africa is falling apart at a pace faster than the rate of reform. Even parts that used to work are facing existential crises. Mining firms that could be printing money will soon have to consider retrenching due to large stockpiles that cannot reach ports because of a logistics nightmare.
In a matter of months, Mashatile has shown he is clueless regarding how to deal with the economic problems. He recites dull ideas without showing how anything different can be done. We are in the throes of deep decline, and it stinks to high heaven and Milan.
Where we are is similar to what US political scientist Francis Fukuyama describes as a bloated and dysfunctional “vetocracy”, where people with big money control decaying public institutions.
• Mkokeli is lead partner at public affairs consultancy Mkokeli Advisory
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