John Steenhuisen launches scathing attack on top South African journalist

Minister of Agriculture and leader of the Democratic Alliance (DA), John Steenhuisen, has responded to an article written by journalist R.W. Johnson, which analyses Steenhuisen’s alleged “downfall” as party leader. 

In an interview with BizNews, Steenhuisen said that the article consisted of “fabrications of Johnson’s imagination.”

Steenhuisen said that he will take legal action against him for claims he made about his personal finances and career. 

Johnson is a historian, journalist and political analyst, with experience writing for The Times, the Sunday Times, and the London Review of Books. 

An Emeritus Fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford, he was the only South African Rhodes Scholar to return to live in South Africa after the fall of apartheid. He has written 13 books, mostly on Southern African politics. 

In a BizNews column titled The DA in Crisis, Johnson outlined recent controversy surrounding the DA’s current leader, where he did not mince his words in his criticism.

He discussed Steenhuisen’s removal of the Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment, Dion George, and his recently exposed credit card debt and alleged abuse of party funds. 

‘Steenhuisen is a classic chancer’ – Johnson

Johnson described Steenhuisen as a “classic Durban chancer”, saying that he is “not too well educated, not qualified in any profession”, and “unable to manage his personal finances even when earning a salary of R2.69 million.”

The journalist wrote that Steenhuisen’s first job after school was becoming a Durban City councillor.

After that, Steenhuisen served as a councillor for ten years before getting elected to the provincial legislature in 2009, only to resign the next year amidst messy publicity over an extramarital affair. 

“That is to say, he is now 49, and the DA has already been his meal ticket for 26 years. He holds no professional qualification and seems never to have held a regular job,” Johnson said. 

He further criticised Steenhuisen’s “antagonistic behaviour towards journalists” and his appointment of Roman Cabernac as his chief of staff, who has a reputation as a “right-wing shock-jock.”

Johnson dove into Steenhuisen’s personal finances, claiming that at 49, Steenhuisen has no assets of any kind. “So he’s clearly spent everything he ever earned. That’s what chancers do,” he said. 

He alleged that Steenhuisen has a default judgment against him for not paying a R149,500 credit card debt, and that the DA leader’s role requires him to explain how the country’s finances and economic policies should be managed. 

“How can someone unable to manage his own financial affairs have any credibility in such a role?” said Johnson. 

He mentioned that recently removed George accused Steenhuisen of misusing the party credit card for Uber Eats food delivery and household expenses. 

He further questioned the DA’s decision to replace George with Willie Aucamp.

According to Johnson, Steenhuisen attempted to demote George, citing underperformance, yet also sought to contradict andappoint him as Deputy Minister of the Department of Trade and Industry. 

He added that George was aggressively carrying out a conservationist and environmentalist agenda, in line with DA policy, but that his replacement, Aucamp, has alleged connections to hunting and mining and presents “the polar opposite” of George. 

Steenhuisen hits back

Steenhuisen said that Johnson’s attack on his lack of tertiary education was elitist.

“I think it’s rather insulting of Johnson to assume because somebody doesn’t have an academic qualification that they’re somehow unworthy to serve in parliament,” he said. 

He said he spent two years at University after school, and left his studies after his second year, majoring in International Politics and Private Law, but that he “never learned anything in those modules that has any relevance whatsoever to what politics is really like.”

Johnson’s claim that Steenhuisen has never held a job outside of politics is a lie, according to the DA leader.

He had a full-time job working for a wholesaler in Durban while he held the position of councillor part-time. 

Steenhuisen conceded that his appointment of Cabernac as chief of staff was a “mistake” that he has already admitted to, and that Cabernac was removed soon after. 

“People make mistakes. Business people make mistakes. Journalists make mistakes,” he said. “Politicians are not immune from making mistakes.”

On the recent reshuffle of leadership in the party, Steenhuisen said he never claimed to be removing George due to underperformance, and that this is another one of Johnson’s lies.

He said he thought George was the right person for the job as Deputy DTIC minister, because he is an American citizen and has a strong financial background that would be well-suited to the portfolio. 

He added that ultimately, placements in the DA are not decided by him, but by the DA’s Federal Executive. 

Regarding the credit card debt, Steenhuisen claimed that this issue was resolved a long time ago.

“Like most South Africans with three children, two at school and one at university, and with the cost of living, I also feel the pressure,” he said.

He called the allegations that he abused party funds a “fabrication of Johnson’s imagination” and said that the investigation currently underway by the DA’s Federal Executive ‘will prove his innocence.’

“I’ve got nothing to hide. I’ve provided all the statements. I’ve never abused party money or a party credit card,” he said. 

“I noticed that in Mr Johnson’s article, he failed to use the word ‘alleged’. He’s said that I misused the card, and so I will be taking decisive legal action once the facts are out there.”