DA knives are out for the party’s leader, John Steenhuisen, with a growing lobby strongly seeking his downfall while pushing for the rise of Cape Town mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis. This is according to impeccable DA sources who spoke to the Sunday Times this week, indicating there is “increasing appetite” in the party for “new leadership” as unhappiness over Steenhuisen’s suitability to remain at the helm grows. It is also understood that the DA is under pressure from its donors to give Steenhuisen his marching orders.
They have of late grown unhappy with his leadership style, and his alleged abuse of party funds was the straw that has broken the camel’s back. The sources have further indicated that members of the party’s top brass want Steenhuisen, who is also minister of agriculture, to be replaced by someone else, and many see Hill-Lewis as the most suitable successor. This comes as Steenhuisen faces allegations of abusing his DA-allocated credit card.
These claims are now the subject of a party internal investigation and are said by his detractors to have placed a question mark over his suitability for leadership, because they have allegedly damaged the DA brand. There is also unhappiness over Steenhuisen’s replacement of former environment minister Dion George with Willie Aucamp, with some claiming Steenhuisen is using cabinet posts to reward his loyalists in the run-up to the DA national congress set for April next year. The sources say that, even though he previously stated he would not run in the same race as his friend, Hill-Lewis is now under pressure to challenge Steenhuisen if he does not step down before the April congress.
Read Full Article on TimesLIVE
[paywall]
“The appetite for a change has always been there, but in the absence of a strong challenger there was nothing that could be done,” said one source. “But with the developments of the last few months, there is a strong and growing push in the higher echelons of the party for new leadership to come in, and Geordin is indeed under pressure to reconsider his previously stated position [that he would not stand] against his friend.” [Geordin Hill-Lewis] has always been considered a prince in the DA, and at some point a prince has to be king. The insiders said that, as matters stand, the “charismatic” Cape Town mayor is the only candidate who could trounce Steenhuisen.
[/paywall]
