I wasn’t pushed, says Steenhuisen

DA leader John Steenhuisen insists that no outside influence or external pressure forced him to call an end to his six-year run as party boss.

Amid reports that Steenhuisen had fallen out of favour with the farming community and party donors, he claims they had no bearing on his decision.

Steenhuisen gave the Sunday Times a glimpse into the sequence of events that led to Wednesday’s announcement that he will not seek a third term when the party meets to elect new leaders in April.

“It’s a personal decision, completely. There’s absolutely — and I say on the record and unequivocally — there’s no deal that’s been done. There’s no meeting that’s been had to discuss exits. It’s a personal decision that I’ve taken not to seek a third term,” he said on Thursday, the day after he declared that his mission as DA leader had been accomplished.

So free from party influence was his decision, he said, that the federal executive and powerful federal council chair and party veteran Helen Zille heard about it with the rest of the country.

However, he informed President Cyril Ramaphosa hours before the announcement “purely to let him know that this is not about the GNU [government of national unity], we are not pulling out of the GNU, and I didn’t want there to be any political instability as a result of that”.

Realising I haven’t been able to go on a family holiday for eight years. I missed my two older daughters growing up. My youngest daughter is nine, and I don’t want to miss her growing up as well

—  John Steenhuisen, DA leader

Steenhuisen was elected DA interim leader in November 2019 after Mmusi Maimane’s departure. A year later he was elected to his first full term as party leader, and he won a second term in April 2023 with an overwhelming 83% support of voting delegates.

“I think I’ve taken the DA to where I can take it. I think it’s now time for a new leader to come in and take us on to the next big thing. And I want to be able to provide that leader with the space and ability and support to be able to do that.”

Steenhuisen said he made the decision in December while on an overseas family holiday with his daughters. It was his first family holiday in eight years, “and it started to put a few things in perspective”.

It had also become “very difficult” to manage his portfolio and lead the party, especially with the outbreak of the deadly foot-and-mouth disease (FMD).

“The DA is a big organisation, and managing a ministry and given the fact that I’d led the party into government and we must do well in all our government departments ... and so, the foot-and-mouth outbreak also has been very much of a preoccupation,” he said.

Party insiders had said Steenhuisen’s handling of the disease was the final straw that pushed his detractors to call for his exit. The sources said party funders had also raised concerns about his continued stay at the top after allegations of misuse of a party-issued credit card and a public spat with Dion George, who resigned from the DA in January after being sacked as a minister.

For Steenhuisen, who turns 50 in March, ending FMD is his new mission, but it wasn’t the final straw; there had been a number of other issues.

“Realising I haven’t been able to go on a family holiday for eight years. I missed my two older daughters growing up. My youngest daughter is nine, and I don’t want to miss her growing up as well.

“And, you know, being DA leader and being a minister means that I’m on the road six out of seven days, mostly, in a week. In January, I slept in my own bed two nights of the whole month. I suppose there are only so many horse-riding competitions and ballet recitals and school concerts that you can miss before it starts to really take its toll on other parts of your life.”

Of course I’d love to stay on as minister of agriculture, but it’s not up to me. It will be up to the new leader to decide who serves on the executive. If they would like me to continue, I will continue

—  Steenhuisen

While Steenhuisen admits that FMD is a crisis, he rejects accusations of mishandling the outbreak. There is public pressure on the government over the crisis in the same way there was public pressure over the Day Zero water crisis and the Covid pandemic a few years ago.

“There’s been more done about foot-and-mouth disease in the last 18 months than in the last 30 years. For the very first time in 14 years, samples are now with the Pirbright Institute to match our local strains. For the first time ever, in July we brought government, the private sector, industry bodies, private scientists, academics, doctors and state vets together.”

Steenhuisen said the agriculture portfolio was fine until he realised the seriousness of the FMD outbreak around October or November, and by that time it had become a crisis.

Before then he had done several things to deal with the disease, including the appointment of a ministerial task team in July, procuring vaccines and the adoption of a new strategy in November, which he says will require full-time focus to work. On Friday, he received a batch of South African-produced vaccines, the first in over 20 years.

“I’ve really pinned this policy as the way to beat FMD once and for all in South Africa, and it’s going to take full-time responsibility. I don’t think it’s fair on the farmers who are relying on us to get on top of this thing ... for me to spend the next three to four months, while we’re about to do the largest vaccine rollout in the history of agriculture, dividing my time between having to go to every branch and every structure of the party to campaign.

“People need to see that you’re reactive, responsive, and you’re dealing with it, and I certainly think that everything that I’ve done in the last 18 months has been a step towards finalising an ultimate solution to the problem.

“Of course I’d love to stay on as minister of agriculture, but it’s not up to me. It will be up to the new leader to decide who serves on the executive. If they would like me to continue, I will continue. If they don’t want me to continue, well, you know, I’ll go back and do what I’ve always done. I’m a loyal activist of the party; I’m not joining another party. I’m not going anywhere.”