The DA’s bitter internal row has escalated, with axed former environment minister Dion George taking the unprecedented step of reporting party leader John Steenhuisen to the public protector. In a lengthy and frequently emotional submission, George alleges that Steenhuisen had him axed from the cabinet under false pretences in favour of Willie Aucamp, whose family George alleges benefits from the highly lucrative trade in lion hunting. The bombshell 84-page affidavit to public protector Nompilo Gcaleka, complete with pictures of Aucamp family members with lion cubs, follows weeks of acrimony between the two senior party members who were once close friends.
Leaked claims about Steenhuisen’s alleged misuse of a party credit card and unverified allegations about George sexually harassing and mistreating members of his ministerial staff have destroyed the veneer of orderliness, discipline and decorum that the DA tries to maintain as it sells itself as an alternative to the notoriously fractious ANC. George’s complaint comes just over a week after Aucamp himself approached the public protector. Rapport reported two weeks ago that Aucamp accused George of abusing state resources and fabricating a whistleblower report to launch a departmental investigation into him.
The tit-for-tat complaints come ahead of a crucial DA elective leadership congress in April when Steenhuisen hopes to be elected for a third term. It is not clear whether George, who is the DA’s federal finance chair, will seek re-election to this post. Minister Steenhuisen is abusing his power as DA leader and as GNU negotiator to advance his own political agenda, which serves his own interests and not those of the DA George also wants the public protector to investigate Aucamp for: Aucamp has denied any links to canned lion hunting, but the details and internal party communications included in the complaint to Gcaleka could do fresh harm to the DA’s image.
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According to George, Steenhuisen conflated his roles as DA leader, minister of agriculture and party negotiator for cabinet posts in the government of national unity. “Minister Steenhuisen is abusing his power as DA leader and as GNU negotiator to advance his own political agenda, which serves his own interests and not those of the DA, [or] more importantly, the people of South Africa as a whole,” George says in his affidavit.
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