The Democratic Alliance (DA) leader, John Steenhuisen, has announced that he will not seek re-election for a third term. At a media briefing this morning in Durban, Steenhuisen, who is also the minister of agriculture, said he wants to focus all his energies on dealing with the foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) crisis, which has caused havoc to farmers.
“It’s mission accomplished for me, I delivered on every promise I made to my party. When I was first elected as federal leader back in 2019, I proudly picked up this party banner when its internal polling was down to 16%, and after the media declared the death of the DA.
“My term will be remembered for leading the DA into national government and pulling South Africa on a new path to prosperity. This is not the end of the road for the DA, and certainly not the end of the road for me. There is an important next mission destined for our party to lead the coalition government,” he said.
‘Mission accomplished’
Steenhuisen said his next personal mission is to focus all his time and energy as minister of agriculture on defeating FMD and pursuing the vaccination drive to ensure this is the last mass outbreak.
“My next chapter must be to eradicate this devastating disease from our shores once and for all. And that I am afraid is not a part-time job. It will simply not be fair for the incredible farmers of South Africa for me to split my time between battling the worst FMD outbreak, and also running around the country for the internal party election campaign and leading local government election.
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“It has been an hour of a lifetime to lead our party to the Union Buildings steps, and I want to thank everyone who supported me for three congresses. We have done great things, and today I simply say mission accomplished,” he said.
He noted that his department has worked well to ensure that the agricultural sector has levelled up to the many challenges it faced.
Steenhuisen also spoke about the work he did to ensure that the DA enters the government of national unity and has ministers, deputy ministers, deputy speakers and other representative in all spheres of government.
What happens next?
The DA’s next congress will be held in April, where Steenhuisen’s successor will be elected. While he assured that he will remain as the minister, it remained to be seen if his party will replace him with the new leader.
National African Farmers Union (Nafu) national president, Motsepe Matlala, said while he may not know Steenhuisen personally since he has not worked with him, replacing him in cabinet will not be ideal.
“However, what this means for the agricultural sector may not be a positive move since changing ministers of agriculture at this point in time may not add value to the industry,” Matlala said.
A farmer in Vrede in the Free State, Wessels Wessels, said he does not see Steenhuisen lasting in his position as minister, as he has not received much-needed support to execute his duties.
“Many farmers of all races are not happy with him, [and] he is also leading a corrupt department. But I want to say this FMD outbreak will sink him,” he said.
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