This election will be the most exciting yet. There is a new fluidity in South African politics. The ANC is the weakest it has been since 1994 and the opposition is growing stronger as each day passes.

Political parties in power do not throw away their majorities quickly or lightly. It takes time for the public's trust to erode to the point that voters decide to do something about it at the polls. But when that trust begins to erode, it quickly reaches a tipping point. Once that point is reached, there is no way back.

This is what we are seeing in this election. This election will be that tipping point. The ANC knows this which is why it is mobilising its supporters to disrupt opposition party meetings and to intimidate voters.

We saw it again yesterday in Siyabuswa where the ANC bussed in supporters who barricaded the community hall in an attempt to stop me from addressing the crowd. It didn't succeed. We simply pushed past them and got on with it. We will not be intimidated by political thugs.

More disturbing was another incident yesterday in Thembisile where I attended a house meeting at the home of a DA member. Once we had left the house, ANC supporters - away from the eyes of the media - stormed the house threatening to burn it down.

This is nothing new from the ANC. Last year the ANC did burn down the house of DA activists in the Mogoba informal settlement on the East Rand . They burned down the house after they had hacked our members with shovels and pick-axes.

As political competition intensifies and the ANC grows more vulnerable, the violence and intimidation will increase. We can be sure of that. We know that politics in South Africa is not for the faint-hearted.

But we are not afraid. We know that, in the end, we will prevail. Because the DA is reaching its own tipping point. More and more people see that we have the policies and the track record in government to deliver a better life. They are beginning to understand that we are not the party of ANC caricature. The ANC myth that we will bring back apartheid or will stop social grants is being quickly dispelled as people begin to see what we are doing to help the poor and disadvantaged.

We are the real deal. When the tipping point is reached - and it is not far away - we will be on our way to forming a brand new government. It will be a government for all the people, not just the elite few. A government that creates opportunities for every South African to thrive. A government that turns South Africa into the winning nation we know it can be.

This is an extract of a speech delivered by Democratic Alliance leader, Helen Zille, at a public meeting at the Embalenhle Stadium in Secunda, Mpumalanga, February 12 2009