Steenhuisen taken to Public Protector by fellow DA member – report

The feud between Democratic Alliance (DA) party leader John Steenhuisen and former Environment Minister Dion George shows no signs of slowing down, with George taking it to the office of the Public Protector.

The Sunday Times reported that, in an 84-page affidavit submitted to Public Protector Advocate Kholeka Gcaleka, former Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment Minister Dion George accuses Steenhuisen of abusing his multiple roles.

This is as DA leader, Minister of Agriculture, and GNU negotiator to allegedly orchestrate George’s removal from cabinet in November 2025 under false pretenses.

George claims Steenhuisen replaced him with current Minister Willie Aucamp because Aucamp’s family allegedly benefits from the lucrative captive lion breeding and hunting industry — a sector George had actively worked to phase out during his tenure.

These practices have drawn widespread criticism from animal welfare groups for ethical concerns, including poor animal welfare and misleading conservation claims.

George further alleges that Steenhuisen unlawfully interfered in the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (DFFE) by:

• Instructing George to meet with captive lion breeders and holding separate meetings with them.
• Suggesting captive wildlife issues fall under agriculture (Steenhuisen’s portfolio).
• Pushing for Aucamp’s appointment due to his industry links.
• Purging independent voices to advance personal and commercial agendas, which George equates to “cadre deployment” and a threat to constitutional independence.

George has called for investigations into Aucamp for alleged undisclosed conflicts of interest, the withdrawal of a South African proposal to tighten abalone trade rules at the 2025 CITES conference, and the failure to renew a task team aimed at phasing out captive lion breeding.

Steenhuisen has dismissed the allegations as “flimsy fabrications” and a “gross misunderstanding of mandates,” describing them as revenge for George’s cabinet removal, which he attributes to underperformance.

He insists he merely forwarded a meeting request from the Wildlife Ranching Association of South Africa to resolve legal disputes over hunting quotas, and that wildlife ranching falls under his agriculture mandate. 

On Aucamp’s background, Steenhuisen said he knows of no links to captive lion breeding, only a declared interest in game farming — comparing it to a farmer serving as agriculture minister or a doctor as health minister.

Any conflicts, he added, would be handled per cabinet rules.

Aucamp’s counter complaint

Aucamp, who replaced George, has denied any involvement in captive lion breeding, calling George’s claims “untrue and fabricated.” 

He acknowledges family game farming interests but insists they do not extend to lion breeding. He notes speaking at a hunting-related event in June 2025 in his DA agriculture spokesperson role.

The withdrawal of the abalone proposal at CITES was due to a cabinet directive needing more public input, and he extended a task team’s mandate by three weeks for report finalisation.

Aucamp himself lodged a prior complaint with the Public Protector in late December 2025, accusing George of abusing state resources and fabricating a whistleblower report to investigate him baselessly — a move seen as retaliation in the escalating feud.

George’s chief of staff, Shelton Mollentze, is also implicated in the complaint, alongside his personal assistant, Traverse Le Goff.

Aucamp claims that Mollentze asked staff in the DFFE to open an investigation against him.

“Mollentze has apparently provided the employees of the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment with a list of my farms and/or companies that needed to be investigated by them,” the Minister’s complaint reads.

Speaking to Rapport, George, who has been living in the United States since his removal, denied initiating an investigation against Aucamp and stated that he had not seen the whistleblower report.

He said claims that he abused state resources are “incorrect and untrue.” Mollentze further denied allegations of misconduct.

“The department receives many whistleblower complaints and tips from many different stakeholders, and we treat all of them with the utmost seriousness and sensitivity,” he said.

This internal turmoil comes at a sensitive time, just months ahead of the DA’s elective federal congress in April 2026, where Steenhuisen is seeking a third term as leader. 

The DA’s once-united front is cracking under these public battles, with leaked claims about Steenhuisen’s alleged party credit card misuse and unverified reports of George’s staff mistreatment adding fuel. 

DA infighting prompts Public Protector intervention