There’s a wonderful saying about history: it doesn’t really repeat itself, it just resonates. Well, on Tuesday evening, it did repeat. The ANC lost the Tlokwe Municipality (or Potchefstroom, if you prefer) back to the DA. The joy of joys to us political analysts is that it was the result of a good old-fashioned back-bench rebellion: several councillors actually decided to take up arms against their own party. Why do we like this? No Jackson, not because it’s fun to watch a party self-destruct, but because it means we have to re-assess some of our assumptions. About, well, pretty much everything. By STEPHEN GROOTES, who loves analysing politics more than just about anything.