South Africa’s Democratic Alliance leader John Steenhuisen steps down

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free

Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.

The head of South Africa’s Democratic Alliance, the second biggest party in the country’s fragile Government of National Unity, will step down in April after weeks of criticism over his leadership.

John Steenhuisen, who has led the DA since 2019, said he would not run in the party’s April leadership race, framing his departure as “mission accomplished” after he took the longtime opposition group into the coalition government in 2024.

His term will be remembered for transforming the DA from “a party that only shouted at others from the comfort of the sidelines . . . into a party that gets stuck in to fix the country we all love”, Steenhuisen said during a media conference in Durban, the city where he was first elected as a councillor almost three decades ago.

Under his leadership the DA has been rocked by internal turmoil that has spilled into the public in recent months.

In January, the party’s federal finance chair Dion George quit after accusing leaders of “cooking the books” to protect Steenhuisen’s alleged spending irregularities and bowing to pressure from the African National Congress, the senior coalition party.

George accused Steenhuisen of using a party-issued credit card for personal expenses, including Uber Eats deliveries. Steenhuisen denied the accusation and an internal investigation found no evidence that funds had been misappropriated.

The business-friendly DA has frequently locked horns with the ANC, which governed South Africa after the end of apartheid in 1994 but progressively shed voters amid growing anger over corruption scandals and poor service delivery. In the May 2024 elections, the ANC lost its majority for the first time, forcing it to form an alliance with its long-term ideological opponents.

The coalition appeared close to unravelling last March when the DA resisted proposed VAT increases, forcing the ANC to rely on smaller parties — including some that were not part of the coalition — to pass a Budget framework.

The former opposition party has also been publicly critical of some of South Africa’s official foreign policy stances, in particular its close relationships with Iran and Russia.

Investors who have praised an improved business climate in South Africa under the coalition government will be watching closely, analysts said.

The Government of National Unity is likely to remain “as relatively stable as it has been since the Budget impasse in early February 2025”, said Chris Hattingh, executive director of the Johannesburg-based Centre for Risk Analysis think-tank.

“At present the balance of forces in the DA’s leadership prefers the party remain in the GNU, and to try to reform government from within.”

But Steenhuisen’s departure also opens a leadership challenge for the DA ahead of critical local elections due before February next year.

Top contender is Geordin Hill-Lewis, a rising star whose record as mayor of Cape Town could shore up the party’s base, analysts said.

Hill-Lewis, 39, is “more skilled as a political actor, and well poised to forge alliances within the DA and outside, and lead the party’s evolution”, said Menzi Ndhlovu, lead country analyst at Signal Risk.

The DA leadership race, however, is far from decided, Ndhlovu added. Other potential candidates include Solly Msimanga, the DA’s leader in Gauteng and one of a handful of senior Black politicians in a party that has struggled to appeal to Black working-class voters who represent the bulk of South Africans.

Steenhuisen, who serves as agriculture minister, said he would spend his remaining time trying to bring a severe foot-and-mouth outbreak under control.