DA leader John Steenhuisen. Picture: Michel Bega/The Citizen Tis the season to be merry – a time of joy, love and generosity. Except in the political jungle, where compassion is always a scarce commodity and the pangas flash all year round.
John Steenhuisen is in the thick of that fray. The DA leader is under pressure on three fronts: a default judgment for credit-card debt; the withdrawal of his DA-issued credit card; and the true reasons for his subsequent sacking of forestry, fisheries and environment minister Dion George. This week, the George saga got even murkier.Daily Maverickreports Steenhuisen’s first attempt to have George removed came at an unscheduled DA federal executive meeting on 15 October, the day he was in Shanghai signing an agricultural export deal.
George had been tightening protections around abalone and lion-bone trafficking into China.Daily Mavericksent six questions about this to Steenhuisen’s department but was refused an answer. Stonewalling extends to the DA headquarters. After George was replaced by Willie Aucamp – a politician with ties to hunting and wildlife-breeding interests – the NSPCA asked the DA to explain his appointment.
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The DA refused. This, from the same party that took Jacob Zuma to court to force disclosure on the reasons for a Cabinet reshuffle. All this inevitably raises questions about Steenhuisen’s suitability as leader.
BizNews commentator RW Johnson, former director of the Helen Suzman Foundation, penned a particularly scathing assessment last week. With the DA doing well in recent polls, writes Johnson, the row over George comes at an awkward time. “A major fight between its senior leaders is the last thing it needs.
The damage to his credibility is already probably fatal and it is clear there is now a large section of the DA who are opposed to his leadership.” In a fiery right-of-reply interview with Alec Hogg on BizNews, Steenhuisen has come out fighting. Asked whether Johnson’s criticisms should be taken seriously, Steenhuisen accuses him of “blatant lies and misrepresentations” and warns he intends to take “decisive legal action” against Johnson and others who have claimed he misused the party credit card.
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