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DA leader John Steenhuisen has pulled off something of a coup by getting author, commentator and scholar William Gumede to chair his "moonshot pact" gathering of opposition party leaders in Johannesburg next week.

Well done him, says Peter Bruce in this edition of Podcasts from the Edge. People, including Bruce, were sceptical when the idea to launch a multiparty coalition-type effort ahead of next year’s coalition was first announced in April.

But the Gumede appointment signals something important has happened to DA thinking about how this might all be done. It lends next week’s gathering real credibility and whether or not the pact is able to topple the ANC next year — an ambitious target — our politics might actually be coming back to life. The opposition, once comatose, is suddenly sitting up in bed again.

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