Writing recently about the upcoming local government election, Stephen Grootes concluded: "The most significant impact of these elections may not be the contest between the ANC and other parties, but in fact within the ANC itself."
As the ANC tears itself up, at every level and in every region, this may seem superficially true. At grass-roots level, prospective candidates and their factions arrive at ANC branch meetings carrying arms (from machetes to guns) and the ensuing violence hardly makes news anymore; the National Executive Committee has to postpone its weekend meeting so that Party leaders can fan out across KwaZulu Natal in an attempt to prevent a conflagration following the jail sentence handed down to former President Zuma.
It certainly looks as if the main contestation in the run-up to the elections lies within the ANC itself.
But this disguises a far more fundamental realignment of politics that is currently underway (and has been for years now).
The main political contest in South Africa lies between the DA and the EFF -- two parties that know what they stand for.
The DA is committed to Constitutionalism, non-racialism, a market economy with safety nets for the vulnerable, and policies that drive growth and jobs. In short, an Open, Opportunity Society for All.