The ANC is a severely divided, glorious mess

“I have to complete a column for The Citizen, and I don’t have a clue what I should write,” I told the lovely Snapdragon on Wednesday morning.

“I’m not surprised,” she said. “You hardly ever know anything about the stuff you write.”

I just ignored her. She is a tad touchy, lately, because she recently started a new job, which is always stressful.

We have the odd argument. Mostly about religion (she thinks she’s God, I don’t agree).

“At times, I want to put you under a pedestal,” I said the other day.

“You surely mean on a pedestal?” she said.

“No,” I replied.

But, on average, she’s a gorgeous, glorious mess and I adore her for it.

A bit like the ANC.

If you want to see a mess in our political landscape, look no further than the ruling party.

I heard an interesting discussion on the radio this week in which an expert said if the ANC remains as divided as it is at the moment, they will lose next year’s election because they will only get 44% of the vote.

And that expert is from within the ranks of the ANC. The same ANC which former president Jacob Zuma said will rule until Jesus comes again.

Oh, how things change.

During the past two or three national elections, nobody ever doubted the ANC would win. The only part of the election results that kept us wondering was whether the party would achieve the magical 66% support.

But things have changed. The risk of losing power at next year’s general elections loomed large before the party’s December 2017 conference, where Uncle Cyril was chosen as new party chief.

And when he replaced Zuma as president of the country, a wave of optimism washed over us.

But we are gradually facing more and more reminders that something is rotten in Luthuli House. Our beloved South Africa is ruled by a severely divided party and Uncle Cyril has a huge job on his hands to mend the cracks .

I don’t want to see the ANC losing next year. But I don’t want to see another ANC that is too strong to worry about the opposition.

Absolute power corrupts absolutely, and nowhere was it more evident than in the South African government between 2009 and 2017.

Dirk Lotriet. Picture: Alaister Russell

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