Newly re-elected Democratic Alliance leader John Steenhuisen went out on a very long limb at the end of the party’s Midrand congress on Sunday, putting his job on the line for an extremely short term objective — preventing the formation of a coalition government between the ANC and the EFF after the elections in May next year. That’s not a very long time away and Steenhuisen, declaring the EFF and its leader Julius Malema “political enemy number 1”, has, I think, put his political future and his job on the line with a promise to stop them in their tracks.

It's going to be a big job, especially as he also committed to building an election pact between often warring opposition parties to, in whatever way possible, fight the coming election together. That campaign has already begun. The big question left hanging in the air is whether, if the pact is successful, Steenhuisen would be its presidential candidate.