Democratic Alliance leader John Steenhuisen has confirmed that he will not seek re-election at the party’s federal congress in April, saying he wants to dedicate his full attention to his work as Minister of Agriculture.

Reports had circulated since Tuesday that he would make the announcement, and he confirmed it in a public address on Wednesday morning.

Steenhuisen reflected on the party’s journey from opposition benches to national government, saying he once never imagined the DA would “walk up the steps of the Union Buildings”.

He said the DA had long strived to gain access to “the levers of power” to help build a fairer and more prosperous South Africa, moving from “mere opposition” to playing a direct role in shaping the country’s future.

Steenhuisen pointed to 2019 as a turning point when the party set its sights on entering national government, and to his re-election in 2023, when he declared the DA was ready to take a political “moonshot” by embracing coalition politics.

He argued that the DA’s decision to help form the Government of National Unity (GNU) after the ANC lost its majority, amid the rise of the MK Party, was the party’s “single greatest achievement”.

“Against all the odds, and with the support of 3.5 million voters, we helped usher South Africa into a new era of coalition governance,” Steenhuisen said, describing the DA as a leading partner in the GNU.

He credited the coalition government with helping stabilise the economy, including fighting off a VAT increase, contributing to renewed economic growth, and improvements such as South Africa’s first credit rating upgrade in two decades and removal from the FATF grey list. He also said unemployment had begun to decline.

“However you slice it, South Africa is better today than it was on the eve of the 2024 elections,” he said.

Steenhuisen added that the GNU had opened new export markets and that, in his current role, he is working “scientifically and decisively” to combat foot-and-mouth disease (FMD), which he described as a top priority for the agricultural sector.

He also highlighted gains made in other portfolios where DA Ministers serve, including Basic Education, Home Affairs, Communications and Digital Technologies.

He said leading the DA into the national government had fulfilled the mandate he set when first elected leader in 2019.

“A leader’s job is to identify and grow talent,” he said, expressing pride in the team he has helped build and in the DA’s growth as a party that “transcends race and class” and seeks to serve all South Africans.

While acknowledging internal opposition to the DA’s coalition strategy, Steenhuisen warned that the threat of a so-called “doomsday coalition” involving parties like MK and the EFF had not disappeared, and urged South Africans to put the country ahead of factional battles.

“This is not the end of the road for me or for the DA,” he said. “The next mission is to build on this legacy and turn the DA into the biggest party in South Africa.”

Steenhuisen said that for the remainder of his term in Parliament, he would focus fully on his duties as Agriculture Minister, particularly on a mass vaccination rollout to eradicate foot-and-mouth disease.

“Defeating FMD is not a part-time job. It would not be fair to farmers for me to split my focus,” he said.

Steenhuisen has faced legal challenges from farmer unions who argued that the response to FMD was inadequate and slow.

He described it as “the honour of a lifetime” to have led the DA to government and said the party’s next leader would have his full support.