The DA is failing dismally

The DA performed much better as the official opposition than it has in its self-appointed role as the party that would galvanise the government of national unity (GNU).

- William Saunderson-Meyer

The same is true of its leader, John Steenhuisen. Its ministers have executed their duties with a zeal that puts their ANC counterparts to shame. But its larger strategy has fallen flat.

The DA believed this link-up for the greater good with its former foe was a prerequisite to achieving the economic lift-off that would drag in its slipstream a fleet of benefits, like revitalised institutions. It is self-evident that nothing like that has happened.

Instead, the DA has been house-trained by the ANC. It barks furiously and still strains at the leash on occasion, but it will sit up and beg on President Cyril Ramaphosa's command.

While I don't share the disdain of many journalists for Steenhuisen, some of the criticism is deserved. As DA leader, he has misjudged every single power play made by the ANC, from accepting a poor partnership deal at the outset to being goaded into making meaningless threats that he has been forced to back off from.