A ringing endorsement, some ANC bigwigs called it. "Done extremely well," a delusional Jessie Duarte proclaimed.Interesting so-called introspective at Luthuli House. Nationally, the ANC dropped around eight percentage points of the vote, with the 50% mark looking scarily close.It became only second-best in Nelson Mandela Bay, where it lost a whopping 11 percentage points compared with 2011, and in the capital city of Tshwane. Now Cape Town seems a galaxy away.It dropped below 50% in Johannesburg, the nation's biggest metropole.And, symbolically, it even lost Nkandla, where clearly the "hail the chief" mentality didn't work.But will there be a real introspection? So far the ANC hasn't had the guts, or the soul, to acknowledge the elephant in the room: the destructive nature of JZ's presidency.Before one can rebuild one needs to realise and recognise what is wrong, and the ANC is too obsessed with blind power to honestly look within.Where were the unions when so many workers couldn't go to vote because they had to work ? Too busy playing with power politics instead of workers' rights . Once again.By the way, Zanu-PF lost all major towns after 23 years of freedom. Just saying. Theo Martinez, Craighall Park..