DA Leader John Steenhuisen has bowed out of the party’s upcoming leadership race, but he says the job of growing the party and delivering to all South Africans is just starting. Steenhuisen today confirmed reports that he would exit the leadership contest in April, adding that he would now fully focus on fighting and eradicating the devastating foot-and-mouth disease outbreak in his capacity as Minister of Agriculture. Steenhuisen says his mission as leader has been accomplished…
Read Steenhuisen’s full speech, as delivered in eThekwini, below:
Ladies and gentlemen,
I am joined here today by my beautiful family, some of my closest friends, and some of my dearest colleagues. I want to particularly acknowledge those who were there in the beginning, Rosemary Harrison, whose mother and father ran every one of my campaigns for council right here in Durban North Ward 36.
A few weeks ago, I climbed up the steps to the Union Buildings for the umpteenth time since the Democratic Alliance entered national government 19 months ago.
But instead of rushing straight to the next meeting, I felt a sudden urge to stop at the top.
I turned around and looked out over the green lawns and the skyline of Pretoria.
For a long moment, I just stood there, thinking about the enormous meaning behind this seemingly small activity of walking up the steps.
Not long ago, it was unthinkable that the leader of the DA would ever walk up the steps to the Union Buildings.
For 30 years under democracy, and for many decades before that, the DA and its predecessors fought to one day carry our vision of building an open, opportunity society for all into national government.
The DA strove for this goal because it was only by gaining access to the levers of national power that we could ever hope to build a more prosperous, fair and successful country.
But to actually get there, a leader was required who would do the hard work of converting the DA from a party of mere opposition, into a governing force strong enough to bend the arc of history – away from a South Africa marked by joblessness, decline and despair, in a new direction towards economic growth, rising prosperity, and renewed hope in the future.
Very few people believed we would ever get there.
Far too many people were comfortable with the DA being a perpetual opposition, smirking and pointing fingers while South Africa declined.
And yet, once we got the DA back on track following my election as Federal Leader in 2019, we set out to achieve exactly this in the 2024 general election: to enter national government for the first time.
In April 2023, following my re-election as Federal Leader with a decisive mandate of 83% from Federal Congress delegates, I announced that the DA was ready to take this Moonshot.
That we were going to shed our image as a party that only shouted at others from the comfort of the sidelines, and mature into a party that gets stuck in to fix the country we all love.
In an address that reshaped the DA’s approach to coalition government – and that would go on to reshape South Africa a little over a year later – I announced that my party would move towards a more collaborative form of politics that sought to unite those who want to build up our country, while isolating those who seek to break it.
At the time, I also warned that if the DA was unable to mature and rise to the demands of a coalition country, it would be responsible for selling South Africa out to the populist Doomsday Coalition.
A little over a year later, on the 3rd of July 2024, the DA achieved our Moonshot.
After the ANC lost its majority for the first time since 1994, and after the emergence of Jacob Zuma’s MK Party made our mission even more urgent, the DA successfully negotiated the formation of the Government of National Unity with President Cyril Ramaphosa.
DA members were sworn in as Ministers, Deputy Ministers, Deputy Speaker, Chairpersons and Portfolio Committee Chairs in the National Assembly and National Council of Provinces, as well as MECs and Deputy Speaker in KwaZulu-Natal – in addition to retaining outright control of the Western Cape.
This outcome, which included the Democratic Alliance’s ascension to national power, constituted the single greatest achievement in the history of our party.
Against all the odds, a party that once languished at 1.7% of the national vote, that was subsequently seen as little more than a regional party and regarded as too arrogant and oppositional to play any national role, now carried the hopes and dreams of our 3.5 million voters into national government for the first time ever.
That we were able to get back to growth after the previous leader walked off the job –
That we had the strategic foresight to reposition the party in anticipation of the coalition era –
That we were able to negotiate our way into becoming a leading partner in South Africa’s first-ever democratically elected national multiparty government –
And that we have since leveraged our influence in government to set South Africa on a fundamentally better path –
Is an achievement that will go down in history.
In the long story of the DA and its predecessors, dating back at least to 1959, there is only one leadership era that will ever be remembered for marshalling our party across the Rubicon, into national government.
Only one.
And it is this one.
A little over a year-and-a-half later, the people of South Africa are beginning to experience the full impact of this breakthrough.
The GNU has more than doubled economic growth during its first calendar year in office.
The DA made a major contribution to this through our victory against a proposed VAT increase last year, in favour of deeper and faster economic reform.
South Africa recently got its first credit rating upgrade in twenty years, and we have been removed from the Financial Action Task Force’s grey list.
Growth projections are improving across the board, and unemployment has started to tick down.
Of course, we have much more to do, but there is no doubt that South Africa’s economy is on the up, after more than a decade of rapid decline.
For the first time in many years, life is getting better for the people of South Africa, thanks to the work of the Democratic Alliance at municipal, provincial, and – crucially – national level.
Through the GNU, we have opened major agricultural export markets in the last 18 months, and we are working scientifically and with determination to end the worst foot-and-mouth outbreak in our country’s history.
Systemic reform is underway at Home Affairs, where a department that was once synonymous with failure is rapidly becoming a world leader in efficiency and secure digital service delivery.
Basic Education is reforming our school curriculum, while the Department of Communications and Digital Technologies is unlocking equity equivalent investments to massively expand digital inclusion.
Public Works and Infrastructure is driving a construction boom across our economy.
Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment is now working to unlock sustainable economic growth for rural and fishing communities, while rebuilding the Kruger National Park following devastating floods.
South Africa today is a profoundly better country than it was on the eve of the 2024 general elections.
A major part of the reason is because I delivered on my pledge to turn the DA into a party of national government, which enabled the talented colleagues who lead these Cabinet portfolios to demonstrate that the DA truly delivers for all.
In fact, one of the things I am most proud of is the pool of talent I actively nurtured in the DA.
Whether it is Siviwe Gwarube, Ashor Sarupen, Leon Schreiber, Dean Macpherson, Solly Malatsi, Mimmy Gondwe or Sello Seitlolo as Ministers and Deputy Ministers, or Geordin Hill-Lewis and Cilliers Brink as mayors of metropolitan cities – these talented young leaders and many others like them became household names during my tenure because I worked to empower them at every turn.
Rather than insecurely fearing competition, the mark of a true leader is to foster talent wherever it can be found.
Because, as these excellent young leaders continue to shine in the DA for many years to come, it will always reflect on the leader who first believed in them.
I am also particularly proud of how the DA is increasingly seen as a political home for all the people of South Africa.
At the start of my leadership term, many commentators underestimated my commitment to ensuring that the party broadens its appeal beyond its traditional base.
But the Moonshot that catapulted the DA into the GNU was predicated on my commitment to reshape this party into one that transcends the boundaries of race, ethnicity and class to serve all the people of our beautiful country.
I believe the key reason why the DA is now polling at historically high levels and winning by-elections in areas where it traditionally struggled is because the party’s work in the GNU has proven that we care about all South Africans, from all backgrounds.
Whether it is empowering emerging farmers and fishers, issuing Smart IDs to people in villages and rural areas, or delivering better education in township schools, no one can deny that the DA is now delivering for all.
I also feel it is important to remind my fellow Democrats that the progress we have experienced since 2019 did not happen automatically or by osmosis.
Although decisions like the formation of the Moonshot Pact and entering the GNU were proven correct, we must not gloss over the fact that some people opposed these bold moves at the time I pushed for them.
I say this as a reminder to all of us that the threat of the populist Doomsday Coalition ultimately entering government has not disappeared.
Just look at what happened in this province in December last year, when the MK Party came within a single vote of toppling the Government of Provincial Unity.
In the wake of losing the motion of no confidence they had instituted against the GPU, they inflicted violence and destruction in the chamber of the legislature, including by assaulting the Speaker.
Make no mistake about it: the scenes we saw on that day are what awaits all of South Africa if we ever allow the MK-EFF Doomsday Coalition into power.
As the DA, but also other GNU partners, hold internal elections over the coming months, it is paramount that we all continue to put South Africa ahead of factional and personal agendas.
It would be a tragedy too great to contemplate for internal party manoeuvring to plunge the GNU and our country into chaos.
We have come too far, and we still have too far to go, to allow anyone to derail the progress we are making.
My fellow South Africans,
When I stood at the top of those steps at the Union Buildings a few weeks ago, I was reminded of another set of steps I ascended for the first time 27 years ago.
They were the steps to the Durban City Council, where I was elected as the youngest ever councillor in 1999.
If someone had told that bright-eyed and bushy-tailed young man that he would, just over two decades later, be the person to lead the DA into national government, he would not have believed you.
And as I stood there looking out over South Africa’s capital city, I realised: it is mission accomplished for me.
I have delivered everything that I promised my party when I was first elected as Federal Leader back in 2019.
I proudly picked up the party’s banner when its internal polling was down to just 16% and after the media declared the “Death of the DA.”
Built on the simple message that I believed there was nothing wrong with the DA that couldn’t be fixed by what is right with the DA, I worked hard with others who love the DA to not only resurrect the party’s fortunes but also carried it to new heights.
Previous chapters of the DA’s history were marked by the party becoming the official opposition and entering provincial government in the Western Cape.
My term will be remembered for leading the DA into national government and putting South Africa on a new path to prosperity.
Don’t get me wrong: this is not the end of the road for the DA, or for myself.
The way I see it, there is an important next mission that beckons for the party.
That is to build upon my legacy and the DA’s success in the GNU, in order to turn our party into the biggest in South Africa, so that we can lead future coalition governments at local, provincial and national level.
But, ladies and gentlemen, that is a mission for the next DA leader.
Because I now have another mission, and it is urgent.
For the rest of this term of office, I will focus all my time and energy as Minister of Agriculture on defeating the most devastating foot-and-mouth disease outbreak our country has ever seen, and to pursue mass vaccination to ensure that this is the last mass outbreak of FMD our country ever sees.
After leading the DA into the GNU, my next chapter must be to eradicate this devastating disease from our shores once and for all.
That is not a part-time job.
It would not be fair to the incredible farmers of South Africa for me to split my time between battling the worst FMD outbreak ever on the one hand, while also running an internal campaign for the next three months and then leading a local government election campaign on the other hand.
So, to my colleagues and friends in the DA,
It has been the honour of a lifetime to lead our party to the top of the Union Building steps. And I want to thank every public representative, every staff member and every activist. For three elective congresses, I placed my trust in you and you in me.
I told you we would land our Moonshot and keep out the Doomsday Coalition.
And today, I simply say: mission accomplished.
From right here in Durban – not far from where I first climbed the steps to the council chambers 27 years ago – I today announce that I will not seek re-election for a third term as DA Federal Leader at the party’s upcoming Federal Congress.
I do so with a full heart, knowing that I have accomplished my DA Moonshot mission, and that my work in government now requires me to similarly pour my heart and soul into defeating foot-and-mouth disease.
I also do so in the knowledge that I hand over the reins to a fundamentally healthier party than the one I inherited.
Instead of 16%, the DA is now consistently polling at 30%, and is within striking distance of becoming the biggest political party in South Africa.
The next duly-elected DA leader can rely on my full support and will be given the space to lead the party as they see fit.
For the true test of whether you love a thing is the ability to let it go when the time is right.
I have loved leading the DA, which is why today I let it go with a smile on my face and triumphant peace in my heart.
The DA I inherited was reading its own obituary in a country that was in rapid decline.
The DA I leave behind co-governs a country that is firmly on the up.
It is now up to the next generation of leadership to ensure that the DA continues to do so with ever-growing confidence for many more years to come, so that we can deliver the country of our dreams to all of our children.
I love my party, and I love my country, and I will continue to work every day to ensure the success of both.
Thank you.
