ANC stumbling through the stages of grief on its way down

Eskom has induced stage fright and grief with its too frequent variations in the timing and severity of rolling blackouts. In this case, stage fright means being terrified of Eskom announcements about which stage will be next – and for how long – before another change is announced.

More stability in the programme would be appreciated, so we can better plan our days. Trying to keep up with the schedules has become a daily puzzle-solving challenge as intricate as the mishmash of excuses recycled by Eskom. Excuse of the week – or part of the week (subject to change without notice) – is that Eskom has run out of money to buy diesel.

That makes sense if we believe Eskom has overspent its diesel budget to (sort of) keep the lights on. What has gone under-reported is Eskom chief operating officer Jan Oberholzer’s statement: “We would be able to pay if the municipalities were paying us.” Let’s test that against published figures.

Last week, Oberholzer said Eskom had since 1 April spent almost double its diesel budget of R6.1 billion. So, in less than eight months, nearly R12 billion was spent on diesel. How much do municipalities owe Eskom?

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According to Daily Maverick, as of 31 July this year, 96 municipalities owed Eskom almost R50 billion. That would be more than enough to keep the lights on far beyond the next budget cycle, which begins on 1 April next year. April Fools’ Day. We all know most of that money will never be paid to Eskom. Much of it was not collected in the first place, thanks to a long-standing culture of nonpayment inculcated by the ANC over decades.

Keeping up this proud tradition, newly elected Gauteng premier Panyaza Lesufi recently called for Soweto’s R5 billion Eskom debt “and that of other townships” to be written off. He said he had been lobbying intensively for this debt “forgiveness”.

We’ve heard much lately about how the ANC’s policy of cadre deployment – and its companion corruption – have contributed to the ruin of state-owned enterprises. At the other end of the economic chain, nonpayment by electricity users helps ensure ruination continues.

Thankfully, the ANC is on its way out. The destructive influence of this sick organisation will not be with us forever. On its way down, the ANC must go through the well-documented seven stages of grief, an elaboration of Elisabeth Kubler Ross’ five stages.

The first stage is shock, as in losing metros during elections. The second is denial: “we didn’t lose, we’re still the biggest party”. Then anger. For example, violence and fiery rhetoric. Fourth is bargaining, for example with tiny parties in an attempt to save face, Fifth is depression, which is setting in among cadres. Sixth is acceptance and hope. The ANC hasn’t reached that stage.

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In fact, many cadres are still in denial about the party’s downward trajectory. They’re a long way from stage seven, which is “processing grief”. Whatever stages of darkness Eskom imposes on us, brighter days lie ahead as the ANC stumbles through the stages of grief on its way down. There is hope. Good grief. Let the ANC continue to fall.