As I write this, it is Tuesday evening and Eskom has issued an impending load shedding notice. The City of Johannesburg’s City Power has again issued one of its “Update on the Power Interruptions” memo. Well, this is just what one experiences each day, every week in this country, delivered by the government of that old “people’s movement” — the broad church called the African National Congress.

I know Eskom’s load shedding and other service delivery related issues are no longer stuff that shocks South Africans. We have come to live the same sorry life, the same bulldust every day, with the weather being the only change we get to experience — fortunately, the ruling party does not have control over that.

This week got the citizenry of the republic all chuffed up with the breaking news of the crime that took place at President Cyril Ramaphosa’s Phala-Phala game farm. Where else have you heard of millions in cash being stolen from the private farm of the head of state? This is a major scandal, a shame. It is something that will get the country talking and all raged up, depending on where you sit on the political playground that is South Africa.

Best believe me when I tell you that no matter what you think of this incident, we are still caught up in the ANC’s game — pun intended. The game is that of keeping South Africa in Groundhog Day.

Let’s get to the point.

So, the former head of the country’s intelligence service, Arthur Fraser, goes and opens a case against the president for concealment of crime, kidnapping, defeating the ends of justice and all sorts of other charges you can think of. This, we are told, is for a crime where millions in US dollars were stolen from the president’s farm.

If we were in a country with a low rate of politicians taking advantage of the gullibility of its citizens, we should be out in the streets calling for the number one citizen to resign. Alas, we did not. In fact, this burning issue has become a factional battle in the game played by the ruling party.

Let me take you back a bit.  

In the year when the whole country was singing along to Shakira’s Waka-waka and a mascot named Zakumi was the talk of town, R14-million (or R4-million, depending on who you believe) went missing from a farm belonging to the Premier of Mpumalanga, DD Mabuza. Yes, we had Fifa World Cup frenzy and millions of rands disappeared from a farm belonging to the first citizen of a province. What was the money for? Why hold such an amount in cash, especially being a premier?

We were never moved by that “theft”. The premier continued with his role in government. Nine years later that premier was bequeathed to us, through the ANC’s elective processes, as the deputy president of the republic. We have ourselves to blame, we just wanted to watch soccer games and not be bothered by the shenanigans of criminality that were being bred by the ANC. We got played — game, set, match.

I am not trying to take your attention away from Cupcake’s alleged criminal activities. Time will tell if he faces the full might of the law or not. As with his predecessor, I am sure that the principle outlined by the Supreme Court of Appeal in 2017 where it said, “the motive doesn’t matter if there’s a case to answer”, will apply — Cupcake will have his day to tell all.

Now let’s get back to Groundhog Day.

Speaking of Ramaphosa’s predecessor — the so-called father of Radical Economic Transformation who rules beyond the grave, former president Jacob Zuma — you will recall his argument against the Arms Deal corruption charges. Together with his followers, he argued intensely that there was an ulterior motive for the charges brought against him. You will recall Zuma and his posse forever chanting that the charges against him were part of a political conspiracy to prevent him from becoming president.

Could it be that the timing of Arthur Fraser laying the criminal charge against Ramaphosa is a ploy of keeping the incumbent from securing a second term as ANC president and so return as head of state come 2024? If not, then why did Fraser wait two years to open a case? We know the president is a game farmer and seller and year upon year he sells his stock at auctions. Has this been happening for all the years the president has been in this business and why was Fraser silent all along?

The drama we are experiencing now is like reliving the era of the Jacob Zuma rape case — in terms of timing, lest you get me wrong. It has brought us 360 degrees to the incident of the “leaking” of what became known as the Zuma Spy Tapes, but this time we have the Economic Freedom Fighters treating us to the “happenings” of the day. These were opportune incidences in Zuma’s fight for the first office and him securing favour among his sympathisers and would-be beneficiaries.

The EFF’s Commander-in-Chief, Julius Malema, even boldly claimed that “there is more”. Is there more? Who is supplying it to Malema and the red berets? What is the intention in doing so? Would Fraser have opened the case had he not fallen out of favour with Ramaphosa? Is this not the same with those who fell out with former president Thabo Mbeki using government intelligence to bolster Zuma’s then-crusade for the ANC top spot as well as the first office?

This drama that is playing out is not for the benefit of South Africa and her citizens. It is just another ANC game being played using the state and political machinery as they skop, skiet and donner each other in the quest to occupy the top six positions in the party.

It will take some yet-to-be-discovered form of awakening for us to realise that with the pre- and post-Polokwane ANC at the helm, we are stuck on Groundhog Day.

Every day we will wake up to malfeasance and unabated corruption. Every time when the ANC’s Policy Conference, as well as their National Conference, are on the horizon we will watch in awe as information that should have been released in time — and people held accountable — is used for politicking and settling of scores.

We will write and offer commentary for news platforms. We will vent and insult each other on online social platforms. We might even get to a point of maiming each other in defence of “the one” we support in this present immoral movement.

In doing so, we will not realise how the ANC is playing Groundhog Day with our country for its own selfish benefit.

So, if you wake up tomorrow to news about a leaked audio or video clip or some form of dossier, you must know that it is Groundhog Day brought to you by the ANC. DM