John Steenhuisen withdraws from DA leadership race to combat Foot-and-Mouth Disease crisis
DA Federal Leader John Steenhuisen announces his withdrawal from the leadership race, prioritising the urgent battle against South Africa's Foot-and-Mouth Disease crisis.
Image: File Phando Jikelo / Parliament of RSA
THE DA Federal Leader, John Steenhuisen, has officially announced his withdrawal from the party's race for leadership for a third term, stating that he has achieved his objectives.
In a media briefing held in Durban on Wednesday, Steenhuisen, who also serves as the Agriculture Minister, expressed that he felt he had fulfilled his mission.
He cited his desire to concentrate all his efforts on addressing the severe Foot-and-Mouth Disease (FMD) crisis affecting the country as another reason for his decision not to seek re-election.
His department has faced significant challenges in controlling the spread of the disease, with farmers increasingly concerned about its impact.
“In April 2023, following my re-election as Federal Leader with a decisive mandate of 83% from Federal Congress delegates, I announced that the DA was ready to take this moonshot. That we were going to shed our image as a party that only shouted at others from the comfort of the sidelines, and mature into a party that gets stuck in to fix the country we all love.
“At the time, I also warned that if the DA was unable to mature and rise to the demands of a coalition country, it would be responsible for selling South Africa out to the populist Doomsday Coalition. A little over a year later, on the 3rd of July 2024, the DA achieved our moonshot,” said Steenhuisen.
He expressed gratitude to all DA supporters and outlined his commitment to a new mission: defeating the FMD outbreak and ensuring it does not recur. He emphasised that he would be unable to effectively combat the disease while simultaneously campaigning for the party in the upcoming local government elections.
“For the rest of this term of office, I will focus all my time and energy as Minister of Agriculture on defeating the most devastating Foot-and-Mouth Disease outbreak our country has ever seen, and to pursue mass vaccination to ensure that this is the last mass outbreak of FMD our country ever sees. After leading the DA into the GNU, my next chapter must be to eradicate this devastating disease from our shores once and for all. That is not a part-time job.
“It would not be fair to the incredible farmers of South Africa for me to split my time between battling the worst FMD outbreak ever on the one hand, while also running an internal campaign for the next three months, and then leading a local government election campaign, on the other hand,” added Steenhuisen.