This week DM168 delves into the politics of the power struggle, both past and present, that have led us to Stage 7 and 8 blackouts. And as a teaser for Daily Maverick's Earth Edition Gathering next week, we have compiled a fascinating 20-page Earth Edition supplement for you.

Dear DM168 readers,

In our DM168 lead story two weeks ago, we warned you that like the ominous first episode of Game of Thrones, a long, cold, dark winter is coming to South Africa.

That winter we described is here and as we predicted, acting Eskom CEO Calib Cassim has admitted that we could face the worst-case scenario of Stage 7 and 8 blackouts.

Some in the ANC and EFF would like you to believe that this dire situation we find ourselves in was all the fault of former Eskom CEO Andre de Ruyter, who sang like a canary in a coal mine in his televised interview with Annika Larsen in February and in his recently launched tell-all book.

But those who have been watching and living in this flickering zone of night and twilight since our first bout of load shedding in 2008, know that we are where we are because a once nationally loved and globally celebrated liberation movement of the people for the people transformed itself over over 29 years in power into a counter-revolutionary, narrow-interest, looting party of political and business elites, greedily devouring, and then burying in mounds of stinking hubris, the...