The party which has held the country to ransom for so long is itself not being held hostage from within.
Part of the joys of living with a toddler is the knowledge that at any time, anywhere in the house, something can break.
These semi-regular occurrences often send splinters of small glass or ceramic shards in every direction and become a literal pain for days after, if not cleaned up thoroughly. Meanwhile, the little one, after some discipline, just keeps going on with life as usual.
And so it has been for many of us as South Africans dealing with an ANC government that has helped many but not all, and has provided services to much-needed areas but left others to rot.
Broken issue after broken issue has left us with countless pains, but now the splinters of factionalism are so numerous that they threaten the party’s very existence. An implosion in 4k that its leaders know, but still insist is avoidable.
Anyone who walks the dark, haunting passages of Luthuli House or hears how leaders have to start each meeting with a mediation session knows that the ANC is a party beyond salvaging.
Once the vehicle of looting, especially during the State Capture era, it has accelerated until the greed from within has stolen the very essence of the party.
Nowhere is this clearer than in the fights over who will be the ANC’s mayoral candidate. It led to mayors axing political rivals from within their own party, and the ANC to hold a glitzy ceremony that could have been an email.
Their mayoral candidate announcement last weekend was not just a wasteful expenditure; it was a stark reminder that the party is being held hostage by members who put only themselves first.
The fact that the party refuses to decide on a candidate because the loser may throw their toys out of the cot, leave for another party, or spill secrets tells you that the executive no longer runs the party but is being dictated to.
Some, like ANC president Cyril Ramaphosa, just seem to allow it to happen because they are tired of the fight and having to come up with creative solutions. While others in the Top 6 are rubbing their hands at the chaos. The petty personal wars we are seeing among mayoral candidates in public are just mimicking the spite and sabotage happening behind closed doors at the highest level of the party.
ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula’s explanation for the fiasco was that mayoral candidates do not matter; the party does. He argued people must vote for the ANC and Ramaphosa, not a councillor chosen by the party.
It was a weak argument, riddled with more cracks and holes than the infrastructure of Luthuli House, and tone-deaf ahead of a local government election where local representatives are the literal focus.
But if we have to go along with this idealistic view of things, why should the people vote for Ramaphosa? He is no Mandela, Tambo, Luthuli, or even Dube. His time as president has been overshadowed by crisis after crisis.
Corruption has increased, as have electricity and water outages. Welfare dependence has also been on the rise, as poverty plagues communities.
Inflation ballooned to 7% during his time; unemployment climbed; economic growth has slowed, and foreign investment, which he tried so hard to chase, has come crashing down in recent years.
The man who rode into town at a New Dawn to mend and unite the ANC now oversees a divided party so shattered it is probably beyond repair.
And why should voters care about the ANC anymore when its own leaders don’t? Why should it uphold the liberator when those who now represent it are working actively to destroy it?
There is only so much that is left to be broken, but the ANC itself was shattered long ago.
