Hello darkness, my old friend: Another load of shedding as ANC returns to default setting

Key topics.Power cuts return suspiciously soon after national electionsANC slammed for scapegoating and systemic failureSouth Africans urged to reject political groupthink and spin.Sign up for your early morning brew of the BizNews Insider to keep you up to speed with the content that matters. The newsletter will land in your inbox at 5:30am weekdays. Register here.Support South Africa’s bastion of independent journalism, offering balanced insights on investments, business, and the political economy, by joining BizNews Premium. Register here.If you prefer WhatsApp for updates, sign up to the BizNews channel here.The auditorium doors will open for BNIC#2 on 10 September 2025 in Hermanus. For more information and tickets, click here..By Oliver Tichmann.Is Mr De Ruyter back at Eskom? That's the only explanation for this new plunge into accustomed darkness. After all, if memory serves, the ANC and friends dubbed him the prince of darkness, blaming him for our power troubles. I recall Mr Mbalula calling him a racist and a 'right wing', both of which characteristics are bound to destroy any power utility. The 'right wing' thing put me off my favourite KFC offering for months. And things were going so smoothly before the national elections. Cynical South Africans read all sorts of nasty things into the coincidental timing. Of course it's coincidental. These things happen. Have you not noticed an increase in acts of generosity, visibility and church attendance by politicians around election season? Just part of the mystical rhythm of life - like the seasons. No sooner had we voted in municipal elections than the lights all went out in Massachusetts. A fitting metaphor, perhaps. Now repeated after national elections. Could it be that the universe is telling us something, fellow South Africans? There's a more prosaic explanation, namely that past performance is usually a reliable indicator for future performance. Ah, but we are slow to learn. So caught up are we in airy revolutions, gorging on racial hatred, resentment, the joys of victimhood and the other pastimes that make South Africa a 'green and pleasant land', that commonsense and the plain truth elude us. The ANC can neither do the barest basics expected of a government, nor just tell the truth about what the devil is really going on. Still, so many windmills to tilt at, so little time. There is really only one revolution that matters. Liberation from the tyranny of group think, useless slogans, clichès and the lies and manipulation that cover a multitude of politicians' sins. In the confessional, these would include: Broken promises, Commitment to incompetence and buffoonery, Lies by commission and omission, Corruption and winking at corruption, A mystifying lack of humility that never acknowledges the failures, the lack of knowledge and / or ability that shine as brightly as the Durban sunshine,Failure to lay out a vision and a strategy that South Africans can get behind,Promoting division, resentment and racism, And, as the advertisers say, there's more. There's much careless talk of treason following Afriforum's activities in the United States. But what about the list above? How's that for a concerted, diligent and already partially successful attempt to destroy the country? Bend it any way you wish but a government that, over decades, cannot keep the lights on, nor address the issue coherently and intelligently is not worthy of the name. But, vote on, dear fellow South Africans. That, too, is part of the mystical rhythm of life in the beloved country.

Hello darkness, my old friend: Another load of shedding as ANC returns to default setting

Related Stories

The hollowing out of Eskom: De Ruyter's prophecy becomes reality

Hersov: There are two South Africas — it's time Washington started treating them differently

How solidarity plans to force out BEE by 2030: Connie Mulder | The NdB Sunday Show

James Myburgh: Roelf Meyer, not Solidarity, broke 1992’s “Yes” vote covenant