Gwede Mantashe, the puckish secretary-general of the African National Congress, has a machinegun-like delivery and fires back answers almost before you have finished asking a question.

Crime, politics, economics, corruption, nothing seems to require pause for thought. He is clearly a man in a hurry. Then again, given the size of his in-tray, that is not surprising. Three years short of the ANC’s centenary, and in the wake of last year’s bruising leadership race, South Africa’s ruling party clearly needs a reboot.