Explosive allegations by John Steenhuisen

Former DA Leader and Agriculture Minister John Steenhuisen made serious allegations against new leader Geordin Hill-Lewis, former leader Tony Leon, and others.

These allegations followed his imminent removal as Minister of Agriculture after Hill-Lewis requested changes to the DA’s cabinet members.

President Cyril Ramaphosa appointed John Steenhuisen as South Africa’s Minister of Agriculture on 3 July 2024.

This position formed part of the negotiations which ultimately created the country’s government of national unity.

Steenhuisen has been a liability for the Democratic Alliance, with one debacle after the next hitting his department.

Since taking office as the Minister of Agriculture, he has faced several high-profile controversies, administrative problems, and legal challenges.

The ongoing management of a severe Foot-and-Mouth Disease (FMD) outbreak has drawn immense criticism from the agricultural sector.

Steenhuisen’s department has been widely criticised for maintaining exclusive state control over vaccine distribution.

It has prohibited private-sector livestock groups and veterinarians from independently procuring and administering vaccines to speed up the process.

In a legal battle around the issue, livestock farmers, represented by the Southern African Agri Initiative (Saai), won a High Court order against Steenhuisen.

The court ruled that the Minister and his department had unlawfully prohibited farmers from vaccinating their own cattle.

To add fuel to the fire, Steenhuisen’s office faced intense public backlash after an internal email was leaked on social media this month.

FMD Response SA sent a formal, collaborative letter requesting a joint public-private biosecurity strategy.

Steenhuisen’s Chief of Staff, Jana le Roux, forwarded the letter to the department’s top officials, noting it was sent “for some amusement.”

Serious allegations by John Steenhuisen

During an interview with News24 editor-in-chief, Adriaan Basson, Steenhuisen shared his views on Hill-Lewis’s decision.

He levelled allegations against his own party leadership, right-wing agricultural organisations, and prominent corporate lobbyists.

Professor André Duvenhage, a research director at North West University, said that Steenhuisen’s public comments are an attempt to hurt the DA.

He argued that Steenhuisen had been hurt politically and financially by his demotion from Minister to Deputy Minister.

This demotion triggered Steenhuisen’s fierce defensive reaction. “Clearly, he has been hurt, and he feels the need to justify himself,” he said.

He described Steenhuisen’s public allegations against Tony Leon and DA leader Geordin Hill-Lewis as a reactive coping mechanism to being politically hurt.

However, the demotion may have been self-inflicted. “He made a mistake by trying to claim the best cabinet portfolio for himself as the leader,” Duvenhage said.

“Steenhuisen should have stepped back, assigned it to someone else, and focused on building his party.”

He added that the former leader specifically aimed to negatively influence a portion of the party’s core support base by alienating conservative Afrikaners.

This was not a good strategy, Duvenhage said, as Hill-Lewis had stood up for Steenhuisen to ensure the party gave him a soft landing.

“From a DA standpoint, I had hoped Steenhuisen would accept the situation. After all, those were the indications he gave at the leadership conference,” he said.

“Steenhuisen said that he was pro-DA, supported the new leadership, and would throw his full weight behind the party.”

“However, the internal toll and personal frustration acted as a trigger, causing him to reject the quiet transition and air the party’s dirty laundry in public instead.”