In this week’s edition of the masterclass ahead of the inauguration of President Cyril Ramaphosa on Wednesday, we talk about what protocol is, and why people often best understand its importance only when it goes wrong; whether shifts in the international order are affecting protocol practices; and how COVID-19 changed the rules for good protocol and some details of what happens during an inauguration. Lerato Mbele speaks to Dr Kingsley Makhubela, Director at Risk Recon and Former Chief of State Protocol at the Department of International Relations and Cooperation.