“I leave the party intact,” says Steenhuisen as he steps down:
Outgoing Democratic Alliance leader John Steenhuisen on Saturday delivered his final address as party leader at the DA’s federal congress in Midrand, telling delegates he was stepping down while leaving the organisation “intact”.
Speaking at the Gallagher Convention Centre ahead of the leadership vote, Steenhuisen described the moment as “bittersweet” as he formally handed over the reins after nearly seven years at the helm of South Africa’s second-largest party.
“It is a bittersweet moment as I hand over the reins of the DA,” Steenhuisen said. “This is the first time I am not on the ballot, but at least I am leaving an intact organisation.”
The federal congress, which opened on Saturday, is expected to elect a new federal leader and other senior office bearers as delegates gather from across the country for the party’s two-day conference in Midrand.
Steenhuisen, who took over the DA leadership in 2019 following the resignation of Mmusi Maimane, said the congress would usher in a younger generation of leaders.
“That is very significant. Most of the DA’s incoming leadership are in their early 40s; they can form a bridge between the party and the electorate,” he said.
In his farewell remarks, Steenhuisen also struck an emotional tone, telling delegates: “I love this party.”
His exit from the leadership comes after he announced earlier this year that he would not seek a third term.
Steenhuisen remains in the Government of National Unity as Minister of Agriculture and is expected to continue serving in the cabinet after stepping down as party leader.
He said the outcome of the congress would provide direction on the DA’s mandate within the GNU. “The congress this weekend will give clear direction on the party’s mandate in the government of national unity.”
Steenhuisen also used the occasion to stress unity within the party as it enters a leadership transition. “I say it is better to lead the whole party instead of just a faction,” he said.
The new leadership is expected to also decide on whether Steenhuisen will keep his job following the backlash he faced for how he dealt with the foot-and-mouth disease.
The congress is being closely watched as the DA prepares for the 2026 local government elections and a change at the top of both the federal leadership and federal council structures.
Steenhuisen’s final speech drew applause from party members gathered at the venue, formally bringing to a close his tenure as federal leader.
Resist pull of race-based politics, warns Helen Zille:
Outgoing federal council chair Helen Zille used her final speech at the Democratic Alliance federal congress on Saturday to caution delegates against race-based politics ahead of the 2026 local government elections.
“We must resist the pull of race-based politics and defend the inclusive, rational centre. We are not black, not white we are blue,” said Zille.
She added that everyone who contests and loses will remain a member of the party. “Everybody will compete in a fair spirit; people will accept the outcome.”
Zille told delegates that municipalities will be central to the party’s strategy and referred to local government as the key political battleground. She said the party needed to focus on its performance in municipalities across the country.
She said service delivery failures in municipalities required attention and should be prioritised by the party. She added that local government remained a critical area of governance and political contestation.
Zille said political opponents will attempt to mobilise voters along racial lines in the run-up to the elections and told party members not to adopt similar approaches. She said the party should maintain its position on nonracialism.
Addressing the Government of National Unity, Zille said the DA joined the arrangement to ensure stability in South Africa. She said an alternative coalition involving the ANC, EFF and MK Party would have been “doomsday for SA.”
Zille said the party’s role in the current political environment required it to focus on governance and accountability. She told delegates that the party needed to continue building its support base.
She said she was confident in the next generation of leaders and told delegates not to take the party’s progress for granted. Zille said the party’s growth would depend on continued effort and organisation.
Zille told delegates that the party must remain focused on governance, the rule of law and service delivery. She said these areas should guide the party’s work at national and local level.
She said municipalities would remain a priority in the period leading up to the 2026 local government elections. Zille told delegates that the party needed to strengthen its position in cities and towns.
Zille said the party should continue to engage voters and expand its support. She told delegates that organisational work would be important in the lead-up to the elections.
The hidden hoaxer class outed:
Now inching past six months into the Madlanga Commission of Inquiry and five months into the ad hoc committee to investigate allegations made by Lt General Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi, which has since concluded its business, one thing has become clear: there is an overlooked and dangerous class in South African politics that uses both political officials and criminal syndicates to gain access to opportunities and wealth.
These political entrepreneurs use their relationships with elected officials and their connections to local thugs and gangs to position themselves so that they become invaluable to both. Their value to politicians is that they can do their dirty work, for example, assassinating competitors, threatening and bribing dissenting individuals and groups, facilitating payments for clandestine relationships and activities, laundering ill-gotten money and covering up scandals.
On the other hand, they provide established criminal networks with access to and leverage within government institutions, particularly law enforcement and intelligence agencies. This facilitates protection for their other criminal activities and increased opportunities for blackmail and extortion of state officials.
Political entrepreneurs, while integrated and integral to both sides, are in the unique position in which they are neither accountable to an electoral constituency nor the ground soldiers pulling triggers and exchanging envelopes.
Central to the definition of “entrepreneurs” is their absorption of risk, which is exactly the value that political entrepreneurs provide for both sides. Some of the risks associated with this role include exposure, accountability, prosecution, delegitimisation and imprisonment.
Under the dual veil of invisibility and notoriety, political entrepreneurs traverse a terrain where their mythology precedes them: they are well-connected, dangerous, effective and seemingly guaranteed impunity.
Patrimonialism — which views state resources as instruments to be used for personal gain on the basis of interpersonal relations and loyalties — is the form of government that facilitates the value and success of political entrepreneurs.
Becoming a political entrepreneur is not something that one trains or studies for; rather, it emerges when individuals recognise that they can monetise their networks and relationships by acting as intermediaries across a wide range of illicit services.
So, why should we care about these entrepreneurial figures? They are doing exactly what ANC National Chairperson Gwede Mantashe implored South Africans to do: use their personal gifts and skills to pull themselves out of poverty through entrepreneurial endeavours rather than rely on the state for their livelihoods.
The problem is linked to the necessarily clandestine nature of political entrepreneurs’ existence, relationships and activities.
First, violence appears to be their primary language.
Second, illegality is what draws together the majority of their dealings with both officials and criminals.
Third, they render the representative function of elected officials defunct, as political entrepreneurs — not citizens — become the determinants of key governance matters, for example, the distribution of resources and the disbandment of task teams.
Fourth, they plunder state resources by diverting them away from constitutionally mandated responsibilities, such as access to healthcare, for personal gain.
Fifth, as they operate in the shadows, they escape all forms of accountability, delegitimising and undermining both the rule of law and the criminal justice system.
Sixth, they embolden violence and criminal activity, as offenders feel protected by their invisibility to, or protection from, the state.
All this suggests that the work of political entrepreneurs has seriously derailed the South African democratic project.
In his State of the Nation address, President Cyril Ramaphosa acknowledged that “organised crime is now the most immediate threat to our democracy, our society and our economic development”.
The president’s statement, read in context, provides evidence of why the class of political entrepreneurs will continue largely uninhibited in South Africa. For one, the political aspects of their influence and work remain underemphasised in favour of the criminal aspects.
If you listen to the president, the threat we are dealing with is purely a criminal one, enacted by criminals. The institutions that are meant to address this are law enforcement and intelligence agencies.
But evidence emerging from both the commission and the ad hoc committee shows that the work of political entrepreneurs has largely been facilitated by the infiltration of these same institutions.
Thus, prosecuting criminals without exposing the political relationships that made their crimes possible is likely to result in a situation in which the players change but the game remains the same.
In conclusion, how the story of South Africa’s democracy unfolds cannot be separated from how citizens and state institutions reckon with this class of political actor — the political entrepreneur.
Moshibudi Motimele is a lecturer in political studies and governance at the University of the Free State. She co-edited the Agenda special issue titled “The Intimacies of Pandemics” and recently published the book – “Wondering Hands and Spirited Ink: Snapshots into the Black Public Humanities“
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