In 2014, Dr Mzukisi Qobo and this columnist co-authored a book titled The Fall of the ANC: What Next?

Our main argument was that the ANC is being devoured by three demons: corruption, factionalism and a rotten leadership.

The book was criticised mainly from two standpoints. The first accusation was that we hate the ANC. This we dismissed as vacuous, for it does not prove that the party is not corrupt.

The second criticism was sound and fair, that our book is strong on analysing the ANC's problems, but weak on the "What Next?" question. We did confess that neither Dr Qobo nor this columnist is a prophet, and therefore that we cannot claim to know the future.

Our time horizon was 20 years. We speculated that the ANC might be out of power by the year 2034, and promised to eat our own socks if this does not happen.

Dr Qobo is very happy about the results of the recent municipal elections, for he was honestly not prepared to eat my torn and stinky socks.

The results suggest that our 20-year time horizon for the electoral fall of the ANC is too generous. The party might lose national elections as soon as 2019, or in 2024.

This means that we must reflect on the parties of the future, which are clearly the DA and the EFF. What must they do to become ready to govern? This week we focus on the DA, and the EFF will follow next week.

The starting point is to acknowledge that, in its current state, the DA is not ready to govern South Africa. If the DA and the EFF were to form a coalition government after the 2019 elections, can you imagine Mmusi Maimane as a president? Who in such a cabinet would be minister of what?

It is true that Jacob Zuma is a fossil compared to Maimane, but Maimane is certainly not yet presidential. He speaks good English, but he lacks intellectual gravitas and statesmanship. He was ambitious to imagine himself as Barack Obama. Obama is well-read.

If the DA imagines Maimane as a future president, they must appoint a secret intellectual mentor for him; someone who will make sure the guy does not go to bed without reading a serious book.

Should the idea be to ground Maimane in liberal thought, he would need to be forced to read works by Jeremy Bentham and John Stuart Mill, or even Karl Popper.

A good mentor would also make Maimane appreciate the importance of reading literature from the other side.

As for ministerial materials, the DA must act quickly; for it is not impossible for it to run South Africa come 2019. The party must attract young and mature blacks who are in their 40s, even early 50s. Such people must be educated, not in the sense of merely having a university degree like the embarrassing Faith Muthambi.

We emphasise race because, while there would be space for whites, South Africans would be offended by a white-dominated cabinet in a country with blacks being in the majority, but the blacks must not be affirmative action idiots.

The DA would also need to reposition itself ideologically. It would need to consider social democracy as a road to liberalism.

In a country like ours, where black people have been impoverished as a group by apartheid, liberalism cannot offer an immediate answer. It is important to address the group underdevelopment of black people before you dissolve them into atomistic beings.

The other thing a ready-to-govern DA needs to do would be to welcome black intellects into its hitherto protected strategy room.

Whites cannot pull the strings of a majority black party forever; there will be a revolt down the road. The ANC does not want blacks who can think. That is why it is falling.

The DA has no time; 2019 and 2024 are around the corner. If it does not listen, it might be caught unready to govern South Africa.