South Africa might have an impeccably liberal constitution, but this week its rulers chose to ignore domestic and international law in the cause of permitting a tyrant to escape justice. This is the same country, incidentally, which refused to grant a visa to the Dalai Lama last year, apparently to avoid upsetting China. Mr Zuma has reached the extraordinary position where he will spurn a Nobel Laureate, but welcome a dictator. Moreover, the president will do so even if the tyrant in question is wanted for the worst of all crimes and the law obliges his arrest. There, in a nutshell, lies Mr Zuma’s betrayal of the ideals of a new South Africa.