News24.com | OPINION | Joe Kitchen: This is the way the party ends

For years, I have been a ferocious opponent of the ANC. But now that the time of its passing is imminent, now that the collapse of this once mighty organisation is turning into a shocking reality, I must admit that I am filled with great sadness, writes Joe Kitchen.

"This is the way the world ends," the poet T.S. Eliot wrote in 1925 in his well-known poem 'The Hollow Men'.

The full quote goes like this: "This is the way the world ends, this is the way the world ends, this is the way the world ends, not with a bang but with a whimper."

I have often wondered why he chose to repeat that line three times before ending the sentence in such an anti-climactic way.

When and if it ends, the world will surely meet its demise with more than a whimper. If the world ends – though I hope it doesn't – I’d think it should end in the same way the universe began - with a cataclysm of explosions and war and flashing lights and one helluva racket. But merely a whimper? Surely not! No desperate bombing, no screams of rage, nothing? Whatever happened to the idea of "rage, rage against the dying of the light"?

I am quoting T.S. Eliot and Dylan Thomas, however, for a reason, and that reason has nothing to do with the end of the world, even though at a time like this, the end of the world may be a very relevant topic.

The end of the ANC

I am thinking of endings in general. I am thinking of the passing of eras, the demise of ideas and ideologies, and the last faltering steps of once-great human endeavours.

I am thinking, specifically, of the end of the ANC.

For years, I have been a ferocious opponent of the ANC. But now that the time of its passing is imminent, now that the collapse of this once mighty organisation is turning into a shocking reality, I must admit that I am filled with great sadness.

I am filled with a great sadness because, alas, the sun is finally setting over what we all believed was once a grand old tradition. The sun is setting over the magnificent legacy of Oliver Tambo, Walter Sisulu, Albert Luthuli and Nelson Mandela. The ANC, as a party, as an organisation, as an idea, has reached the end of its shelf life. 

Many columns and thousands of words have been written about the ANC, lately, most of them critical. That is no surprise. By now, the rot has crept in everywhere, even right to the top command. It would be hard to find a single righteous person among them. Trying to find one single honest person among them would be to find one edible slice in a mouldy loaf of bread. It probably can't be done.

A substantial number of columns have also been written about the idea of "imagining a future without the ANC". That is probably what we should all focus on next. I saw a photograph in the news the other day of Herman Mashaba and John Steenhuisen sitting together at a table and drinking tea. Well, I think it was tea. I must admit that that photograph gave me some hope. After all, I'd rather see these two gentlemen having a cup of tea together than anyone going for a cup of tea with Jacob Zuma in Nkandla. (Remember when tea with Zuma was all the rage?) 

How long must we wait, though? Must we really wait till 2024 to unseat the ANC? Does that mean another year of level 4 to 8 load shedding, another year of unemployment and corruption, another year of pointless discussions and hot air, another year of faction fighting and blame games?

Oh well. At least there's an upside. If the ANC carries on the way they are carrying on now, it’s pretty evident that, a year from now, it will have absolutely have no voters left. 

Holding onto the sadness

But let's be serious for a moment.

Right now, before I move on to the next phase of imagining a better future, I feel as if I want to hold on to this sadness just a moment longer. I want to spend time with it. I want to understand exactly where we are right now.

It is almost the end of 2022. It is that time of year traditionally set aside for reflection, introspection, and spiritual stocktaking.

Yes, I feel sad. The great sadness I feel for the ANC is a bit like the tinge of sadness I feel for our local Post Office, only worse.

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Let me explain.

Recently I went to our local Post Office to renew my postal box. I realise, now, that perhaps I shouldn't have bothered. We are getting fewer and fewer letters, and also fewer bills via this way. No one uses this service anymore.

Besides, our Post Office is hard to reach. The street in front of it has been a building site now for months on end, without much evidence that they are making any progress. No cars can use it. To reach the Post Office, one must park a few blocks away, walk the rest of the distance, and then struggle past heaps of building rubble amid the noise of bulldozers.

Once you get inside, there’s usually no one except the staff. Gone are the days when one had to queue for half an hour to buy a postage stamp. The people behind the counter seem so bored that they look relieved to see anyone. I was treated with great friendliness when I entered. It was only after I had finished my transaction and looked at my receipt when I noticed they had probably overcharged me, either on purpose or by accident.

Rot and decay

Even before I left, though, as I turned around after paying for (the vastly overpriced) rental of my post box, I started noticing the rot. It wasn't just in the street outside that was full of rubbish. It was as if the whole building was slowly falling apart.

Windows that had been broken for years had still not been fixed. The wastepaper basket hanging suspended on the wall by the post boxes still lacked a bottom. The steps leading back outside were broken.

All these signs of decay, were, for me, the most apt symbol of everything that is wrong with the ANC.

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One can go on about their screaming hypocrisy, their blatant dishonesty, about the heinous crimes, the corruption, the overwhelming sense of entitlement, about the political killings, about all their sensational misdemeanours.

In the end, what bothers me most is the neglect.

This is where they have hurt this country most. Not by doing the things they did. But by NOT doing the things they were SUPPOSED to do. By allowing everything to become so dilapidated. By not repairing anything, by not replacing anything, by leaving things to deteriorate and wither away and fall apart until there’s simply nothing left.

This neglect has nothing to do with ideology or race, education or intelligence.

It boils down to one thing: apathy.

In the end, this, more than anything else, has been the downfall of the ANC; their inability, or unwillingness, to pay attention to the details.

Perhaps that is the reason why they are not going out with a bang. Why they have opted for a whimper?

They are probably not even organised enough to stage a coup d’etat. Perhaps they are too tired. Whatever. 

In fact, we don't even have to fight them anymore. If left to their own devices, they are sure to self-implode.

The only thing we need to do is to be ready for an alternative, to be able to take their place when that happens. That is the job, not only of the opposition parties, but of all of us. This is the time for civil society, for all true and patriotic South Africans, to move in to fill the gap left by the ANC. Even if we must do it in Eskom-induced darkness. 

- Joe Kitchen is a South African musician, singer, songwriter and writer who sometimes goes by the name of Koos Kombuis, André Letoit and/or André le Roux du Toit.

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