All the rumours are true. John Steenhuisen won’t be running for a third term as leader of the Democratic Alliance (DA). “It’s mission accomplished for me,” Steenhuisen said during his announcement on Wednesday morning in Durban, where he started his political career.
This brings to an end a somewhat underwhelming and controversial reign. Beyond Steenhuisen’s announcement, this moment is a huge one for the future of the party. The DA has been in crisis mode for a long time, and it’s unlikely this will be resolved any time soon.
Despite Steenhuisen’s assertions that he’s leaving the party in a much better position than he found it in, the true picture tells an entirely different story.
From a declining voter base to huge pressures for the far right and rapid successive exits by black leaders, the party has many problems.
The big announcement happened… but nobody was shocked?
The writing has been on the wall for a while.
Steenhuisen has been embroiled in controversy for the past couple of months. Remember, those reports that he was using the company card to buy UberEats? It wasn’t that simple.
Even though he was cleared by the party’s federal legal commission, Steenhuisen was actually accused of “misappropriating funds through his use of his DA credit card”.
He faced additional charges, which were never publicly specified beyond “bringing the party into disrepute”. It was widely reported that those investigations would have forced his hand, according to sources within the party.
Then there were his actions within the Government of National Unity. Steenhuisen asked President Cyril Ramaphosa to remove Dion George as Minister of Environment, Forestry and Fisheries and replace him with Willie Aucamp in November 2025.
This led to George resigning from the DA. George said he couldn’t remain in the party that, according to him, through the actions of Steenhuisen, had “been captured by the African National Congress and other criminal interests.”
So what’s next for the Agriculture Minister?
In his speech, Steenhuisen claims he won’t be running for a third team as DA party leader because he wants to concentrate on his portfolio as agriculture minister.
“I now have another mission and it is urgent,” he announced.
The country’s cattle farmers have been facing an unprecedented crisis with the aggressive spread of foot-and-mouth disease (FMD), which is affecting eight of the country’s nine provinces.
John Steenhuisen has long suffered foot-in-mouth disease. Ultimately though, he has lost his job because of foot-and-mouth disease
— Dan Corder 📺 (@DanCorderOnAir) February 4, 2026
Steenhuisen said he will be dedicating all his time and energy to defeating the FMD outbreak, claiming it wouldn’t be fair to the farmers of the country for him to split his time.
So what does this mean for the DA?
The future of the party is anybody’s guess, but for now, it is largely expected that the City of Cape Town’s mayor, Geordin Hill-Lewis, will be taking over the leadership ahead of the April 2026 DA Elective Congress.
Hill-Lewis, who was appointed mayor in 2021, is considered a rising star within the party. He has the support of many within the party, including Helen Zille and former DA leader, Tony Leon, who praised Hill-Lewis, saying, “I think he’s a remarkable individual and I’m sure he would be a very effective leader of this party”.
“He has the ability to be ruthless. You have to have the ability to make difficult decisions,” said a senior DA source to News24. But he has something else too; he is not fake; he has an ability to relate to people.”
Whether that will be enough to steer the DA out of its ongoing crisis remains to be seen. But that’s no denying there needs to be some major shifts in the party if they want to get out of their current predicament.
The drama continues, and we all wait with bated breath for the next episode of Days of the Democratic Alliance Lives.
