Annette Steyn


Annette Steyn is a South African politician, currently a Member of the National Assembly of South Africa for the official opposition Democratic Alliance. Steyn was first elected to Parliament in 2009 and has since served in the Shadow Cabinet in various capacities. She was at one stage the DA Eastern Cape Provincial Chairperson.

Political career

Steyn previously served as a municipal councillor of the now-defunct Gariep Local Municipality in the Eastern Cape, before her election to the National Assembly in May 2009. She took office as a Member on 6 May 2009. Shortly afterwards on 14 May 2009, DA Parliamentary Leader Athol Trollip appointed her to the post of Shadow Deputy Minister of Rural Development and Land Reform.
In February 2012, newly-elected DA Parliamentary Leader Lindiwe Mazibuko named Steyn as the new Shadow Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, succeeding incumbent Lourie Bosman. Kevin Mileham succeeded her as Shadow Deputy Minister of the Rural Development and Land Reform portfolio. Following the May 2014 elections, Steyn was retained in her post by the DA Parliamentary Leader Mmusi Maimane.
In her capacity as a Shadow Minister, Steyn has suggested that the national government should provide drought relief to struggling Northern Cape farmers. She called for the Land Bank to allocate agricultural land to emerging black farmers. She proposed an SIU Investigation into corruption allegations at the Department of Agriculture. She claimed in 2018 that a total of 85,000 jobs in the South African sugar industry were being marginalised.
In June 2019, following her re-election, Steyn was named Shadow Minister of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development by Mmusi Maimane.