DA leader John Steenhuisen.
(Delwyn Verasamy/ M&G)
Democratic Alliance (DA) leader John Steenhuisen says that if he had stood for election at the upcoming congress, he would have won hands down.
He was speaking exclusively to the Mail & Guardian on Wednesday, hours before his announcement that he would not stand for the party leader position at its congress, a role he has held since 2019.
Internal party members had alleged that a faction in the DA was behind forcing Steenhuisen not to contest the upcoming election.
“I think it’s pretty instructive that in three months not a single candidate has put their hand up, so where is the other faction if they exist?” he said.
“I’m not interested in factional battles. I have served two terms and I would have been elected to another term if I had decided to stand.
“If there’s another faction, they must come forward but none of them have come forward to contest at all. No one has said: ‘We are standing for leader against John,’ so I get curious as to who these factions are.”
Steenhuisen said he would, however, stay on as party leader until the end of his term but was coy about who he would support to take over from him.
He said it was not up to him to choose the next leader of the DA, adding that the party should decide who they wanted.
“I will be the leader until a new leader is elected and I will hand over and support that individual, whoever it is.
“There’s nothing unusual about this; it’s how political parties work. It’s only parties like ActionSA that don’t have internal congresses, which elect leaders for life, that don’t go through these democratic processes.”
Steenhuisen said there were several reasons why he was not running, including the fact that he had led the party since 2019 and it would have been a major disruption for him to focus both on his portfolio as agricultural minister and on running an internal campaign.