After nearly 30 years as a member of the DA, I have resigned my party membership, my leadership positions and my seat in Parliament. This decision follows a period in which it became increasingly difficult for me to continue serving within the party under the current leadership and circumstances. I believe the DA has lost clarity and confidence in distinguishing itself within the Government of National Unity.
While I remain committed to South Africa’s best interests, I no longer feel it is feasible for me to do so from within the party as it is presently constituted. Today, I have written to the Democratic Alliance (DA) to cancel my party membership that I have held since 1995. I also resign as the party’s Chairperson of Federal Finance and as a Member of Parliament of the Republic of South Africa, where I was first sworn in on 17 January 2008.
The situation has become intolerable. I am being pushed out and it is no longer feasible for me to remain in the party. I heard via the media on 7 November 2025, that John Steenhuisen had written to the president to request my removal as Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment, while I was representing our country at COP30 in Brazil.
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My attorneys have requested documents and they were not provided and no proper explanations in writing were received. I was provided with a gag order from the party on 24 November 2025 after I defended myself in the media. This did not apply to others, such as Willie Aucamp and John Steenhuisen who both continued to attack me without any response or support from the party.
I cannot remain in a party that has, through the actions of its current leader, John Steenhuisen, been captured by the African National Congress (ANC) and other criminal interests. The result of this capture is that the DA has been completely muzzled and lost its voice and its ability to lead in South Africa’s interest. When the DA decided to join the Government of National Unity (GNU), I assessed the risk that the DA could be swallowed up by the ANC.
However, I supported the DA joining the GNU, because I believed it was the best available option in the interests of the country. It is still my view that with skilful leadership, while jealously guarding our integrity, the DA’s participation in the GNU could have worked. Instead, Steenhuisen as the DA leader has been captured, because of his personal financial vulnerabilities.
I have submitted a comprehensive complaint to the Public Protector setting out how Steenhuisen abused his position under the influence of criminal interests and illicit networks to remove me as the minister of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment. In that leadership role I did not bow, bend or blink under the pressure of the ANC, illicit wildlife traffickers or the criminal captive lion industry in particular. I spoke up and fought to protect South Africa’s amazing and spectacular wildlife and natural resources for her people as one of our nation’s great treasures.
To cover up the actual reason for my removal a smear campaign was attempted, and when it failed the reason became my “refusal” to take on the role of Deputy Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition (DTIC), although I was never formally offered the DTIC role. I worked fearlessly for South Africa by holding ANC-appointed department officials to account for corruption, and leading several initiatives to combat illicit wildlife trafficking that included closing the terrible and criminal captive lion industry that would be a stain on the integrity and conscience of our nation. I frequently clashed with ANC leaders Gwede Mantashe and Kgosientsho Ramokgopa since I had a responsibility to hold them to account on mining appeals and emissions.
I did my job without fear, favour or prejudice, but I discovered that was not what Steenhuisen wanted. He wanted co-option. He wanted to remain in the GNU at any cost to the party’s values and principles and to the country’s interests.
Steenhuisen effectively muzzled the DA parliamentary caucus into silence on issues crucial to South Africa, including the cost of Black Economic Empowerment and the ANC’s ongoing collusion with authoritarian governments against our vital allies like the United States. This week, the DA supported all the budgets the ANC submitted, including the DTIC that continues to discriminate against millions of South Africans, and the Department of International Relations and Cooperation (Dirco) that colludes with the enemies of democracies around the world.
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