Photo: Waldo Swiegers/Getty Images
Has anyone noticed that John Steenhuisen, who heads a party that enjoys holding hands with all races around a fire to sing Kumbaya, has been uncharacteristically silent about the ongoing atrocities against Palestinians in Gaza?
But why is it uncharacteristic, you ask?
Well, in May 2022, Steenhuisen, South Africa’s lifetime high school valedictorian and leader of the Democratic Alliance (DA), travelled more than 12 000km to war-torn Ukraine to file blow-by-blow (or bomb-by-bomb) coverage of the ravages of Russia’s invasion of its eastern European neighbour three months after it began.
Armed with military hard hats and standing next to damaged infrastructure situated dozens of kilometres away from his air-conditioned five-star hotel in the capital Kyiv, Steenhuisen — whose scene selection surpasses those of seasoned news organisations — elucidated on the egregious enmity of Russia against its neighbour.
“It’s important that the world — particularly as Africa — we understand the impact of this on our continent … and start to pressure [for] peace; pressure for an end of this destruction and war, which is going to have a knock-on effect on the rest of the world,” Steenhuisen asserted, rallying the continent to join his calls for a ceasefire.
But, after more than 24 000 Palestinians — many of them civilians, women and children — were killed in Gaza during the three months of unrelenting bombing by the Israel Defence Forces, Steenhuisen has failed to revive his Christiane Amanpour war correspondent routine that he so perfected in Ukraine.
Israel’s bombardment is part of its retaliation for the 7 October 2023 attack by Hamas that resulted in the killing of more than 1 100 Israelis and the kidnapping of more than 240 people.
Granted, South Africa’s favourite matriculant could be worried about the dozens of journalists killed by Israeli forces and is the reason for not braving the front lines in Gaza to detail the devastation that his country has argued before the International Court of Justice amounts to genocide.
But that did not stop Steenhuisen from booting DA parliamentarian Ghaleb Cachalia out of the party’s “shadow cabinet” in November last year for publishing his views on this Gaza catastrophe.
Cachalia, who probably saw that his boss was trying to bury the lead story, scooped Steenhuisen by publicly stating that he would “not be silenced”, adding that “Israel [is] committing genocide”.
“Simple — get this straight. If you do not believe that there should be an immediate ceasefire between Israel and Hamas and that there should be a call to get the combatants and all stakeholders around the negotiating table now to avert a humanitarian catastrophe, you should be ashamed.
“If you support obliteration of one side or another, you are a disgrace,” Cachalia said in his 27 October Facebook post.
In a clear case of editorial interference, Steenhuisen — who also moonlights as the de facto leader of the moonshine pact of opposition parties aiming to unseat the governing ANC in this year’s provincial and national elections — chastised Cachalia for covering the Gaza war.
Steenhuisen said Cachalia knew full well that DA MP Emma Powell would be the chief reporter on the Gaza story.
“Even worse, your conduct is deeply disrespectful towards your colleagues — many of whom feel equally strongly about this and other matters but have nonetheless continuously engaged with each other, with the party, and with the public in an appropriately respectful manner,” he said.
“Your conduct, in wilful violation of a caucus decision, is deeply undermining of my leadership and unbecoming of someone who holds a senior position in my shadow cabinet.”
This is a far cry from the enthusiastic Steenhuisen who reported live from Ukraine and rallied all and sundry to follow his lead and speak about Russia’s intolerable invasion.
What could have changed in such a short period?
I posit that Steenhuisen has been distracted since the arrival on the political scene of businessman Roger Jardine.
It seems some were not sold on Steenhuisen being the face of the moonshot pact that aims to oust the ruling ANC at the polls.
In December, Jardine — who ditched his Tom Selleck look ahead of his presidential run — launched his stokvel called Change Starts Now, which a DA insider said would make better headlines for the opposition at this year’s elections.
Whatever the reasons for Steenhuisen’s reporting about-turn, it remains his responsibility — self-tasked as he is with getting different bosberaad parties to sit around the same campfire — to dust off his notepad, pen and camera because Gaza needs his prodigious journalism.