1. THREAD. Yesterday I had the unfortunate reality check of another example of the ANC's absence from politics in Cape Town...

2....Observatory Hall is a historical landmark that serves as a hub for initiatives such as Narcotics Anonymous, martial arts classes, arts, daycare and ecd, and other much needed projects by the community, for the community.

3...But for no reason other than offocious avarice, local DA ward councillor Paddy Chapple sought to raise the nominal fees for access to this by over 500 percent...

4... Like a regional baron presiding over his feudal lands and Karen neighborhood watch whatsapp groups, content to smoke in his office while his 40 pm after tax salary accumulates for doing fuck all, he faced NO POLITICAL OPPOSITION FROM THE ANC IN CAPE TOWN...

5... Such a hike would have driven out many community interventions from Observatory Hall. It should not have fallen on custodians and programme directors of these initiatives to take on a political activist role that they were forced in in the vacuum of an effective ANC.

6... But they did. And they won
And Smokin Paddy was forced to retreat from his commercialization of community space, but his gentrification program continues unchecked by the ANC.

7... So what is to be done? Firstly, the ANC in Cape Town needs to acknowledge that the mandate of the voters that they need to fulfill is that of opposition. This is a harder task than incumbency because it is a 24/7/365 exercise in auditioning for the privilege of power....

8... Secondly, all councillors and officials need to account for whay if anything, they have done for and in their allocated constituencies and delegated responsibilities over the last five years. Have they been effective opposition?

9. Thirdly, they need to present a vision for their future in their roles and constituencies. If they have laid foundation for future growth, what is their vision for taking power in the City of Cape Town?...

10... Fourthly, what is their vision for succession planning? Do they have a plan to pass the baton to a new generation of social democrats?

11.... Lastly have they done anything to hold their zonal and metro leadership to account where there has been gatekeeping, lack of vision, opportunism, bootlicking , careerism, factionalism and other tendencies that has blunted effective opposition...

12... The ANC in Cape Town is in a state of perpetual crisis and it gifts the Paddy Chapples of this city the license to run their wards as if they are anarcho capitalist regional barons. Effective opposition begins with an honest introspection by Cape Town ANC of itself.

13. Splinter groups like the CCC / Gatvol etc are natural phenomena of grievance, a political outpouring of rising popular discontent with politicians of all stripes. None of these fringe groupings have the capacity to offer SOLUTIONS. This is an opportunity for the ANC...

14... The ANC can no longer defer honest introspection. If it does not course correct now, the splintering of the body politic into factions who compete in the arena of the politics of spectacle would be irreversible.