John Steenhuisen not ruling out a comeback

Outgoing leader of the Democratic Alliance (DA), John Steenhuisen, says that he is not done with politics or the party.

This is after he announced at a press conference in eThekwini on 4 February that he would not seek a third term as DA Federal Executive in the upcoming April elective congress. 

Speaking during an interview with SABC, the Agriculture Minister was asked whether stepping aside as DA leader is a smart political move for someone who aspires to the highest echelons of politics. 

Steenhuisen responded that he doesn’t think it was detrimental to his career, as being a politician is “like being a movie star – you can die many times in different scripts, but you can still come back.”

“I’m not done with politics, and I’m not done with the DA,” he said. “I won’t be the leader of the party, but I do have political plans for the future.”

Steenhuisen said he’s given his life to serving the party from the time he was 17 years old. “I’ve been the first leader in its history to take it to national government,” he said. 

In the DA’s next elective congress, he will not contend for any top position in the party partly because working under the shadow of former leader Helen Zille, who serves as head of the party’s federal executive, has been difficult. 

“It’s never easy to be a leader when the former leader is in a leadership position in the organisation, and that is one of the key reasons why I’ve said very clearly I will not be seeking any leadership position at the congress,” he said. 

He added that he and Zille “are not friends” and had a strictly professional relationship throughout his tenure. 

However, when asked if he would consider running again as DA leader in the future, Steenhuisen responded that “there’s a famous James Bond movie that says ‘never say never again’ and I would say never say never again,” he said. 

However, he added that he has “a different path in mind” – a plan which will come to light sometime in 2026, and that he will not seek re-election anytime soon.

I’m not done with politics – Steenhuisen

He firmly denied that he was compelled to step down as DA leader. “If you know me, if you followed my career, nobody pushes me anywhere,” he said. 

He said his stepping down is not a matter of being pushed out at all, but rather was a strategic decision on a personal and professional level.

In the short and medium term, he said that his focus will be solely on “being the best minister of agriculture the country’s ever seen.”

He said it is important for the DA’s success to perform in the portfolios that leaders have been given, to show South Africans what the party is capable of. 

Steenhuisen has been in the spotlight recently for his role in combating the spread of foot-and-mouth disease as Agriculture Minister. This is as South Africa faces its worst outbreak in history. 

Agriculture and civil society groups have condemned his handling of the crisis. At the heart of this conflict is a fundamental disagreement over how to contain a disease that threatens to decimate the national herd.

FMD causes severe lameness and reduced productivity in cloven-hoofed animals, representing a catastrophic economic threat to South African agriculture.

While the lobby groups argue for a decentralised approach that empowers farmers to act, Minister Steenhuisen maintains that strict state control is the only path to recovery.

While Sakeliga, the Southern African Agri Institute (Saai) and Free State Agriculture have taken the minister to court for the matter, Afriforum has accused Steenhuisen of committing treason for refusing to allow public sector participation. 

Steenhuisen’s political career began when he was elected to the Durban City Council in 1999. He was one of the city’s youngest councillors at the time.

He went on to serve as the DA’s caucus leader in the eThekwini Municipality and later in the KwaZulu-Natal provincial legislature.

He was chief whip of the official opposition from 2014 to 2019 before he was elected as federal leader of the DA in November 2020, and was re-elected for a second term in 2023.