In the wake of John Steenhuisen's demotion, the party had a chance to send strong signals that it wished to cast its net wider. Instead, it was largely the white cohort that came to the fore.

When erstwhile DA leader John Steenhuisen announced in February that he would not be standing for another term, he gave reasons that either had South Africans roaring with laughter or yawning with the boredom of familiarity.

Steenhuisen claimed that he wanted to stop juggling his party leadership role with his demanding agriculture portfolio and also played that tired card of wanting to spend more time with his family.

"For the rest of this term of office, I will focus all my time and energy as minister of agriculture on defeating the most devastating foot-and-mouth disease outbreak our country has ever seen," he told the media and his loyalists in Durban, where he had begun his political career about 27 years ago.

Nobody believed any of that hogwash. Although Steenhuisen was expected to run unopposed (or only symbolically opposed by a hapless candidate) at the party's federal congress in May, his term was going to be a tumultuous one. His being unopposed would have owed more to the DA not wanting an ugly contest in an election year than to his overwhelming popularity.

Steenhuisen is widely seen in the DA as the weakest and most uninspiring leader in its history. He...