Okay, here goes... yet another column casting aspersions on the ANC. Uh, the State. The ANC State? The state of the ANC. Yip, the line between the two is so porous it makes a sponge look solid. Except, of course, when a party member faces a disciplinary hearing ? then it's diamond.

The ANC has no qualms about cadre deployment. It has no misgivings about filling key judicial positions with what are clearly ANC lackeys. It has no scruples about being ? albeit indirectly ? both the driving force behind increases in electricity tariffs and the beneficiary.

It ? or in this case the State apparatus ? is willing to afford Julius Malema the status of a public official or representative when providing him with a taxpayer-funded security detail of over R300 000 per month.

And yet, when the same Julius Malema brings the credibility of not only the ANC, but also the country, into disrepute, the public is not entitled to hear whether or how he will be punished.

"If he is charged or not, it is not a matter for the public or media, it is an internal matter of the ANC," said spokesperson Jackson Mthembu.

Forgive my impertinence, but I would like to venture that it is a matter for the public.

When Jacob Zuma publicly censured Julius Malema, he did so not only as head of the ANC, but also as president of the country. Had the censure been purely party-related, Zuma could simply have given young Julius a telephone call.

However, because Malema's actions reflected negatively on the party's ability to carry out the duties of the State ? the outright backing of Zanu-PF, the defiance of a court order, and the mistreatment of an international journalist ? it was necessary for Zuma as the South African president to distance himself and the party from such behaviour.

This rare demonstration of leadership on the part of our collective-minded president, while too little too late, was refreshing. Finally, thought South Africans (heaving a shared sigh of relief), Zuma has swapped his ANC-branded leather jacket for something a little more presidential. If only temporarily.

While it is true that, because Malema holds a position in the ANC and not as a public representative, only the ANC has the ability to mete out any form of punishment for his behaviour, it is not only the reputation of the ANC that has been tarnished.

If President Zuma wants the public to believe him when he says that the ANC will "deal" with matters such as these, he will need to provide proof that some action has been taken. Having undertaken publicly to correct the behaviour, the president shouldn't automatically assume that we will take him at his word. It has, after all, on occasion been found wanting.

Moreover, because Malema's behaviour impinged on the dignity of the State, Zuma should want to demonstrate that, as president of the country, it is he ? and not some pipsqueak in the party's youth league ? who runs the country.

Jacob Zuma may be the president of the ANC, but first and foremost he is the president of the country. It is time that he got his priorities straight.