It was bound to happen. Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga would get it the worst.
And if her posture was anything to go by last Tuesday evening, not only did she anticipate the inevitable but assumed the hard line – swinging right back.
Let's be honest, in the wake of her colleagues' stuff-ups; the tobacco U-turn; the lampooned level 4 winter clothing list; belligerent undertones in the defence and police clusters; and a nation in the throes of football and alcohol withdrawal anxiety, the minister's decision to open schools for grades 7 and 12 was sure to be the most ill-fated announcement of all.