Joining me for today's conversation is John Steenhuisen. John is the leader of South Africa's official opposition party - the Democratic Alliance - as well as (more importantly) a KZN compatriot of mine!

I begin by asking him why he ventured into politics. Was it he who chose politics or was it the other way around? Having been elected as a city councillor at the tender age of 22, it is hardly surprising that John looks with excitement at the increasing involvement of young people in politics today. "The decisions that are being made now in the country are going to affect young people the most," he says. "It is their future that is being decided upon... People who say that they are not interested in politics, well, that might be the case, but politics is very interested in them."

John further asserts that we must direct our efforts towards relieving the plight of students who have had to take to the streets in defiance of a terribly inefficient system put in place by the ruling party. The resentment that has built up in students at the behest of unkept promises by the ruling party, is an ordeal to which John is sympathetic. However, sympathy alone will not solve the problem. John briefly outlines the DA's "workable alternative" to the system currently in place.

We go on to discuss affirmative action (because how could we not), land reform, multilingualism, as well as - more generally - why a growing economy, more than anything else, is the solution to many of our national woes. John insists on providing clarity - where clarity is due - and dispelling some lingering myths. Is the DA colour-blind? Does the DA recognise the injustices of the past, and is it set on alleviating them? Is the DA opposed to land reform? Is the DA hiding behind the fanciful cloak of "multilingualism" when all it wants is to protect the interests of Afrikaans-speaking South Africans? Finally, is the DA just a reactionary organisation existing only to criticize the ruling party?

To help ground the aforementioned questions in reality, I read out some context-specific questions that had been submitted by a few friends of mine.