There’s no doubt South Africa is in the midst of a crisis. But how deep is it? According to John Steenhuisen, the head of the country’s leading opposition party, it’s existential.

Steenhuisen explains to FMN why the need for South Africa to repair and enhance its weakening relationships with traditional partners such as the US and the European Union is so urgent, and why his party — which by his own admission has no chance of forming a majority government in next year’s general election — is working to build a coalition that can break the long-ruling African National Congress party's stranglehold on power. Even if that means partnering with the ANC itself.

At stake: South Africa’s relationship with the West, its appeal to foreign investors and the welfare of its 60 million people.