Behind the scenes of Steenhuisen’s dealmaking with the DA

When DA leader John Steenhuisen addresses the public on Wednesday morning to announce that he will not seek a third term as party leader, the decision will most likely be framed as one made on his terms.

This is one of the concessions Steenhuisen is believed to be permitted in order to forestall the possibility of ongoing internal wrangling and uncertainty over the leadership race which could be ruinous for the DA in a local election year, DA insiders told Daily Maverick on Tuesday.

“Steenhuisen is likely to say something like: ‘Given the foot-and-mouth disease crisis currently affecting South African cattle, I owe it to the farmers of South Africa at this point to give my full attention to the Agriculture portfolio’,” one said.

“Something like this will probably be presented as the reason why he is not seeking re-election as the leader in April, when in reality he has very little choice in the matter.”

The framing of Steenhuisen’s decision not to seek another leadership term in this manner, as prioritising his responsibilities as Minister of Agriculture, is also hoped to at least briefly placate the DA’s farming constituency – currently baying for Steenhuisen’s blood as a result of the perceived mishandling of the foot-and-mouth crisis.

Read more: Farmers take foot-and-mouth disease fight to Steenhuisen as vaccine battle escalates

As Daily Maverick reported earlier on Tuesday, party sources say Steenhuisen will be permitted to keep his ministerial post in the GNU in exchange for agreeing not to seek re-election at the party’s electoral congress in April.

This is a deal that has been on the table for some time. But with Steenhuisen still enjoying strong support from the DA’s parliamentary caucus in particular, he has been hedging his bets.

Now, with the clock ticking down until nominations open for party positions on 27 February, sources say that one of the factors which may have forced Steenhuisen’s hand is the results of the ongoing investigation into him by the party’s federal legal commission (FLC).

Although the FLC cleared Steenhuisen of the allegation that he had misappropriated funds through his use of his DA credit card in January, he faced additional charges which were never publicly specified beyond “bringing the party into disrepute”.

This may have involved the default court judgment issued against Steenhuisen in May 2025 as a result of unpaid credit card debt, as Daily Maverick first reported in November 2025.

Daily Maverick understands that another charge levelled against Steenhuisen was his alleged recruitment of former Brenthurst Institute director Greg Mills as a personal political advisor, a position which allegedly did not formally exist on the DA’s organogram and as such was not budgeted for.

Party sources say that DA federal executive chair Helen Zille may have used the likely findings of the FLC investigation as leverage to persuade Steenhuisen that it would be better for him to relinquish the party leadership race.

Unhappiness within and outside party

Although Steenhuisen was still supported by a large bloc of the party’s parliamentary caucus, as well as the DA Cabinet colleagues he had appointed, there was also growing unhappiness within the DA at the perceived reputational damage the leader was doing as a result of the credit card debt, the bitter fallout as a result of Steenhuisen’s axing of DA veteran Dion George as Environment Minister, and the current foot-and-mouth crisis.

Read more: What Dion George’s very public resignation means for the DA

Steenhuisen has never been popular within the party’s powerful Western Cape faction, with unhappiness rising over the past few months – while donors applied increasing pressure from the outside.

DA representatives were also angered when the widespread circulation of Steenhuisen’s salary – collateral damage from his fallout with George, the party’s money man – showed that in addition to his ministerial salary of almost R2.8-million annually, Steenhuisen was being paid a “leader’s stipend” from the DA of R39,560 per month.

This raised his salary in total to the level of the country’s deputy president – in a context where other public representatives complained that they could barely pay their party tithes, and struggled to secure sufficient budget from the party for necessary political activities.

The fact that Steenhuisen will be permitted to keep his ministerial post indefinitely is likely to also be a source of contention within the party, particularly given the blowback he is currently facing from the agricultural industry.

One source suggested a better option might have been to offer Steenhuisen an organisational post like that of DA CEO, which, due to its behind-the-scenes nature, would pose lower political risk to the party.

The axe of Zille

DA sources say that ultimately what has sealed Steenhuisen’s fate is the loss of Zille’s confidence.

“When Gogo wants you gone, you’re gone,” is how one party insider expressed it.

Former DA federal chair Athol Trollip, now an Action SA MP, tweeted on Tuesday: “[Zille] will elevate you as long as it serves her purposes and then drop you as easily when it no longer does. Her list of casualties is long and it seems that John Steenhuisen has joined the ranks.”

But the DA leadership is also known to subject meaningful decisions to rigorous focus-group testing. It is likely that empirical data from this research would have also made the case that the party’s prospects in the local government elections, to be held between November and January, might suffer with Steenhuisen still at the helm – particularly if there was a fear that further scandals might lie ahead.

One DA source who spoke to Daily Maverick on Tuesday did not entirely rule out the possibility that even with a deal apparently secured with Steenhuisen, the party leader might opt to go rogue and deliver an entirely different announcement at Wednesday’s press conference.

But with a ministerial salary and its associated perks on the line, Steenhuisen has a lot to lose. DM