Are you one of those who believe that the Schabir Shaik trial is all about Deputy President Jacob Zuma? That the trial is about the all-important succession debate in the African National Congress and that the trial outcome will determine the identity of the future president of this country? That the trial is all about trying Zuma in the court of pubic opinion?

Everyone knows that Zuma has steadfastly refused to comment on the case. But is he taking it seriously?

Maybe we should remember his response to the investigation last year during one of many altercations with the National Prosecuting Authority.

"This investigation reminds me of Shakespeare's Macbeth when he said after a long soliloquy : "It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing,'"he said in a statement.

Zuma's diary indicates that last week, as his political future was arguably being decided, he was not even in the country.

On Tuesday he was in Uganda for a meeting with Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni. From there he moved to Kenya, where he attended the inauguration of the transitional federal government of the Somali Republic as well as the swearing-in of its president.

He attended the Burundi summit the following day, also in Kenya. This Monday he met with the Belgian Foreign Minister, Karl de Gucht; on Tuesday Zuma met with the Prime Minister of Tanzania, Frederick Sumaye; attended Cabinet committee meetings on Wednesday and then flown to Italy on Thursday to attend the General Assembly of the World Political Forum.

On Tuesday Zuma, whose morality is under the microscope, also spoke about moral regeneration in our society while delivering the Inaugural Desmond Tutu Peace Lecture in Cape Town.

"The work of the Moral Regeneration Movement is fundamentally about rescuing our public morality from apathy and indifference by for example, encouraging ordinary people to speak out against those crimes that thrive on silence," he said.

With acknowledgements to Rapule Tabane and the Mail & Guardian.