John Steenhuisen withdraws from DA leadership race 'amid tensions with Helen Zille'

DA leader John Steenhuisen’s withdrawal from the campaign to be re-elected to the position in the next party elective conference in April has been linked to his strained relationship with Helen Zille, the party’s Federal Council chairperson. 

A source, who is well-placed within the DA’s national office and close to Steenhuisen, said that although the leader withdrew from the race in order to focus on the Department of Agriculture, where he is the minister, his decision was also driven by being tired of being undermined.

The source said the party and government responsibilities had made Steenhuisen exhausted, as the Foot-and-Mouth Disease demanded lots of his attention and focus.

“Many of the provinces had asked him not to pull out, but I think he had just had it because the relationship between him and Zille was also no longer so good.

“You cannot be a leader of the party and have somebody that is the secretary-general (Federal Council chairperson) of the party trying to work against you,” said the source, who added that the two leaders’ relationship was no longer solid.

Seven provinces were solidly behind him while his support in the Western Cape and Gauteng was divided, the source said.   

“Even the leaders of those seven provinces were not happy about his withdrawal because they were taken by surprise as they believed that he was going to win by a landslide majority.”

He said Steenhuisen was concerned that if Zille got re-elected as the Federal Council chairperson, she would continue to insist on pulling the string and undermining him.

However, Zille described the source’s claim as “complete bull”. 

“I do not micromanage anyone, and I was not standing to be the Federal Council chair again.

“So that proves your source is pure fiction,” she said.

Steenhuisen's spokesperson, Charity McCord, declined to respond and described the source's information as “really just gossip”. 

The source said things started to fall apart between Steenhuisen and Zille after the formation of the Government of National Unity (GNU), which Zille “did not really support for the DA to join”. 

“Zille and her cabal started to blame him for being swallowed by the ANC. I think on the sideline, Zille was not happy with joining the GNU, but she has been pretending to be happy.”

The source said Zille was part of a faction that cared a lot about the party’s traditional vote base, “which is your Afrikaner voter base”, instead of embracing non-racialism.

“They don’t care about growing the party out of 20%, whereas John is pro-transformation.

“He wants to transform, he wants to grow the DA, and he wants those hundred of thousands of voters to come to the DA,” the source claimed. 

He said Steenhuisen had shown capabilities of attracting more black voters into the party for the local government elections, to be held late this year, and the 2029 general elections.

“Remember when he took over from Mmusi Maimane, black supporters were at around 16%, right now, according to DA polls, they are at 30% since we joined the GNU.

“Under him, we were going to be key players in metros and after the national government elections in 2029. There is no doubt that he grew this party by far.” 

He said Steenhuisen preferred to announce his withdrawal at a media briefing in Durban, which is his hometown and where he believed he enjoyed much support.

“This was to say this is where I started my political career, and this is where I want to make an announcement to pull out,” he said. 

The source said that with Steenhuisen being out of the race, Solly Msimanga and Cape Town Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis were the only two available to compete for the party’s top position. 

However, another leader, who is an MP and also requested not to be named, said the focus on the Department of Agriculture was the only reason Steenhuisen pulled out of the race. 

“All he wants is to make sure that the Foot-and-Mouth Disease is controlled and does not want to be seen as conflated.

“The DA always criticises ministers for putting the party interest above their ministry and the country.

“He felt that he could not do both jobs (minister and party leader),” said the KwaZulu-Natal-based leader, who is close to Steenhuisen.

She said Steenhuisen could not take the pressure of being the minister while leading the party because this would mean that he would have to work extra hard ahead of the elections, crisscrossing the country campaigning.

“As a leader, he had to be at every province and at every council meeting. We are just announcing our mayoral candidates. 

“In KZN, we will announce mayors in about five or six municipalities, including Umngeni, Msunduzi, and eThekwini, and wherever these launches are happening, the leader would have to come down, and he (Steenhuisen) is gonna be caught up. 

“This time around, the leader has to be available 24/7 for the party's job,” the MP said. 

She said Zille and everyone knew for some time that Steenhuisen would no longer be a leader, which she said was the right decision for the interest of the country.

When asked about the relationship between Steenhuisen and Zille, she said: “The relationship was okay.” 

“People always want to make stories about Zille and John, but people have differences everywhere, but you cannot make it a personal thing.

“We are running a political party, and people can have differences, and if the differences were so grave, people would be killing one another as it happens in other organisations,” the MP said.   

 bongani.hans@inl.co.za