It has been a spectacular and a tragic *1 fall, but the arc of Carl Niehaus's descent cannot be understood simply in terms of a single man and his flaws, however striking that story is.

What really matters about this story is the chaos within the ANC and the deep structural pathology of its political culture.

It was extraordinarily stupid of the party, in the form of secretary general Gwede Mantashe, to acquiesce in a request from the team around Jacob Zuma to hire Niehaus. No amount of benefit that might have been derived from having an Afrikaans dominee lending his support to the campaign to save Zuma could possibly have been justified by the public relations damage that revelations about his past could do and there is every indication the party knew of his travails.

Niehaus was brought on board, as we report this week, not as a ­general purpose spokesperson, but as part of the effort to win over public opinion at home and abroad to the view that the case against Zuma has no ­foundation *2.

Here is a man whose misdeeds -- fraud, corruption, the solicitation of cash from business people -- closely mirror the charges against Zuma, but who confessed and offered to resign when confronted with them. That contrast is impossible to spin, as Mantashe's flailing attempts in the past week have shown.

The ANC has now thoroughly lost is ethical moorings.

It believes that it can brazen out just about anything. Travelgate, Tony Yengeni's conviction and later drunk driving arrest, Oilgate, the involvement of its front company, Chancellor House, in a massive Eskom tender and, ultimately, Zuma's mutually beneficial symbiosis with the Shaik family.

There is more to it, however, than the arrogance of incumbency *3.

Niehaus's failings are intimately related to the culture of conspicuous consumption and crony capitalism that pervades the ruling party.

Niehaus is far from alone in making up the affordability gap between a very comfortable salary and a life of outrageous luxury with help from wealthy friends or a bit of corruption.

Just ask the curators of the Brett Kebble estate.

The incoherent response on Niehaus, flip-flopping from comradely support to disciplinary action, is an indication not just of acute moral confusion but of a stunning leadership vacuum. Who is running the ANC? If it is Zuma he is nowhere to be seen. We suspect that it is a question no one can truthfully answer.

With acknowledgements to Mail and Guardian.