The Point worries about the mental state of the individual who decided to conduct a poll measuring the sexiness of South Africa's politicians. Sure, policies matter little to South African voters and the poll could really be about anything? but sexiness?

Seriously. Here are the candidates:

Equally disturbing: some people actually voted in the poll. Yes, that means that they took the time to consider the relative sexiness of these individuals before settling on one and voting.

Most disturbing: the very same people will probably be voting in next week's election. We can only hope that they close their eyes, spin around three times and randomly mark an X on the page.

In fact, I would advise all South Africans to utilise this technique. It's not that I don't believe in democracy ? I do (well, most of the time anyway) ? it's just that the calibre of leadership is very much on par with the calibre of sexiness.

Let me prove my point?

IT'S NOT STEALING IF?

Our esteemed (and I used the term lightly) National Prosecuting Authority thought that it would be okay when handing down arguably the most important decision it has ever had to make to plagiarise (yes, illegally copy) a ruling from a Hong Kong court.

"When the NPA failed to find anything within South African law to overcome Judge Harms' statement that the motive behind a prosecution is irrelevant, it resorted to plagiarising an obscure ruling from a foreign court."

The response from NPA spokesperson Tlali Tlali was somewhat cavalier: "We are recognising (only now that some know-it-all legal expert pointed it out) that what we said was based on that judgment and we are in no way attempting to pass that ruling off as our own. We regret the oversight, but it in no way detracts from the decision that advocate Mpshe reached."

Oversight. Forgetting a comma or stapling the pages in the wrong order is an oversight. Completely failing to mention your source material (especially when you cite quite extensively from other cases) is very clearly attempting to pass something off as your own.

But fear not, Jacob Zuma assures us that our democratic institutions are strong.

"We have built democratic institutions that serve the interests and safeguard the rights of all South Africans. Recent events have shown the capacity of these institutions to effectively perform their Constitutional mandate, even in the face of heated political and legal disputes."

A hint for those who voted in the Sexiest Politician poll: irony.

PLAYING THE MAN

Following the dropping of the Zuma charges, the DA has launched a Stop Zuma campaign (because the 'Fight Back' one did so well the last time). This did not sit well with the straight-playing Allan Boesak.

"Opposition politics should be about policy, about what the party you vote for will deliver either as an effective opposition, or as government for the people, by the people. Cheap rhetoric that smacks of racist undertones, playing the man and not the policy; welcome to the world of the DA, a party infused with apartheid-style politics which has no place in our country."

"Smacks of racist undertones" and "apartheid-style politics"? hmm? cheap rhetoric.

He may want to have a little chat to the Young Communist League's Buti Manamela.

"Opposition parties want to win the election in court. We want to tell ugly Zille? we defeated Helen Suzman and we will defeat you."

I think it's safe to say that Buti voted in the Sexiest Politicians poll. And not for the housewife.

AND THE WINNER IS?

Proof that all South Africans are blind or that the poll was rigged is the fact that the bald-headed one danced his way to the top of the Sexiest poll. I'm willing to put some money on him coming out tops of that other poll too?

So, what can we look forward to under Zuma rule?

"JZ was not president when these things were happening? There are no holy cows? anything one had problems with could be raised," said NEC member Mathole Motshekga in response to a question about abortion and same-sex marriages.

No holy Constitutions either it would seem.

"People have been given jobs without the necessary qualifications and then could not do the job properly. There were very outrageous cases. Mistakes were made and we must correct them," said Matthews Phosa about the ANC's tenure in government.

Hmm... well? I can think of a good place to start.

"But I am sure this will pass ? the reason I am still an ANC member is because I know it will pass. There is too much history and tradition to walk away from," said Trevor Manuel about a less "orderly" ANC.

Well, tackle Matthews Phosa's point and I reckon you'll be well on your way?

Proof that our politicians are as intelligent as they are sexy.

"We hear people saying that the ANC support has grown because of Zuma's popularity. That's not true. Zuma is not a populist." ? Jesse Duarte.

Definition of populist: an advocate of the rights and interests of ordinary people. Yip, that sounds about right then.

After the SABC canned a programme about political satire, Cope charged that the broadcaster had again "knuckled under to political pressure from the ANC and Luthuli House and sycophantically betrayed the media principle of freedom of expression."

Knuckled? I think that you'll find that the word is 'buckled'. Such a schoolboy error in a sentence that also contained the 15-letter word 'sycophantically'?

"The question is that, how can they stop the tsunami? How can you stop what the people want? It's the people's leader. The DA is on the opposite of what is wanted by our people. He's not an armchair leader? what we give to our people is not fake, what you see is what you get. Mshini Wam' and the laughter is the innocence of what Zuma represents." ? Fikile Mbalula.

Erm?the above leads me to one conclusion only: Mbalula came up with the idea to hold a poll about the sexiness of South African politicians. It's what the people want.

"Forces that are opposed to our revolution are still here. We must change the management of this university and also the lecturers. This is our university, we must change the look of this university, (it) should reflect South Africa."

Julius Malema ? the only real reason anyone needs to get out there and vote next week!

The Point wants to know which politician you think has the best knitting skills? Cast your vote below?