The more the infighting within the Tripartite Alliance (TA) intensifies, the more frustrated the ANC becomes with its partners' lust for power, and with their pursuit of an illusory ideology as they seek to grab control of policy from a dithering Jacob Zuma.
The Financial Mail's Barney Mthombothi calls the TA an " unholy alliance". He concludes that "it won't die or be broken without a challenge from outside". (Financial Mail, 18 December 2009).
[Stanley Uys writes on the conflict in the alliance here - Editor.]
Meanwhile, Democratic Alliance leaders are watching closely as the infighting continues, weighing up what the TA's disintegration might mean for their party's election prospects if they play their cards skilfully and ethically.
One thing is sure. There are ANC supporters who are increasingly disheartened as the DA, official opposition in the National Assembly and deftly led by Helen Zille, draws wise counsel from the current mayhem.
The DA knows it has to be careful - to take the long view and resist the temptation to go for short-term gains by wooing disaffected ANC moderates and hinting at the possibility of compromises. Taking its bearings from what happened to the National Party, it knows that "If you don't like our principles, we've got others" would mean disaster.