Buoyed by re-election, Steenhuisen declares Malema EFF enemy No.1

An emboldened re-elected DA leader John Steenhuisen has declared the EFF his party’s enemy number 1.

Steenhuisen, who walloped Mpho Phalatse to clinch a second term as party leader, said the DA must do all it can to stop the possibility of the EFF knocking on the doors of the Union Buildings after next year’s election through a coalition with the ANC.

Steenhuisen told the almost 2,000 delegates at the party's federal congress in Midrand, Johannesburg, that the DA could not stand by and watch a possible “doomsday coalition” between the ANC and the EFF.

An alliance between the ANC and the EFF would be catastrophic for the country, he said, and it was up to the DA to topple any such marriage.

In fact, Steenhuisen charged, the country's survival depended on it.

“Today, I publicly declare Julius Malema’s EFF to be political enemy number one of the DA,” he said to loud applause.

“And I commit the DA to fight back against the EFF at every turn, with the ultimate aim of defeating the doomsday coalition that could seal SA’s fate next year. This is no longer about politics. It is about the survival of democracy, and the survival of SA.”

Steenhuisen said he would soon propose what he calls a “moon shot pact' with like-minded political parties and organisations that has to be in place before next year's national election.

This pact, which would be formal in nature, could topple the ANC and keep the EFF out of the Union Buildings.

“In my capacity as leader, not only of the DA but of the opposition alternative in this country, our party will immediately initiate a process to form a pre-election 'moon shot pact' with like-minded political parties, civil society organisations and civic movements to defeat the ANC, to keep the EFF out, and to inaugurate a new national opposition coalition government,” he said.

“This invitation is broad and generously open to the leaders of all civil society bodies and opposition parties that are, as a matter of principle, opposed to the ANC and the EFF. But it excludes all parties and organisations who’ve tethered themselves to the ANC.”

Steenhuisen's announcement of this multi-organisation agreement was welcomed by delegates with loud applause.

He said as official opposition leader he was duty bound to make such a proposal to save the country.

It is only through such an agreement that the ANC can be defeated and the EFF neutralised.

“The purpose of this pact will be to forge co-ordination and unity of purpose between all organisations that want to defeat the ANC and keep the EFF out. To achieve the moon shot, we need a whole-of-society approach that builds a new ecosystem of change,” said Steenhuisen.

“The pact’s purpose will also be to sit around the table to agree on rules of engagement that will enable different organisations to retain their own identities while bringing an end to the petty squabbles and division that only benefits the ANC. Furthermore, when I say we must work together to decisively defeat the ANC, I do so deliberately.”

Political parties must watch out for an email notification of this groundbreaking proposal, he declared.

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