John Steenhuisen
John Henry Steenhuisen is a South African politician who has been serving as the Leader of the Opposition in the National Assembly since October 2019 and the interim Federal Leader of the Democratic Alliance since November 2019. He previously served as the Chief Whip of the Official Opposition under the leadership of Mmusi Maimane from May 2014 to October 2019. He has been serving as a Member of the National Assembly since July 2011. Before he was appointed to parliament, he was active in the provincial politics of KwaZulu-Natal, serving as both the Provincial Leader of the DA and the leader of the party's caucus in the KwaZulu-Natal Legislature.
Ideologically, Steenhuisen describes himself as a liberal and a supporter of non-racialism.
Early life and education
Steenhuisen was born in Durban and attended Northwood Boys High School, an English-medium secondary school in Durban, from 1989 to 1993. Steenhuisen came under scrutiny in 2018, when it was discovered that he lacked any formal tertiary education. He later told Parliament that he had enrolled for a bachelor's degree in politcs and law at the University of South Africa in 1994, but could not finish the course due to work and financial circumstances.Political career
Steenhuisen started as an ordinary Democratic Party activist before he became a branch member.In 1999, at the age of 22, Steenhuisen was elected to the then Durban City Council and consequently became one of the youngest municipal councillors. He was appointed the DA's caucus leader in 2006. In the same year, he was assigned to serve on the city's Executive Committee.
He represented the constituency of Durban North in the eThekwini Municipal Council, and its precursor, the Durban City Council, for ten years until his election to the KwaZulu-Natal Legislature in the 2009 South African general election. He was elected Provincial Leader of the Democratic Alliance at the party's 2009 Provincial Congress. He held the position until he announced his resignation on 18 October 2010, amid the disclosure of marital unfaithfulness. Steenhuisen's resignation as provincial leader became effective on 24 October 2010, although he continued to serve as an MPL and the DA's caucus leader until his move to the National Assembly in July 2011.
Steenhuisen joined the National Assembly on 19 July 2011 by replacing Mark Steele, a DA MP who, in turn, assumed Steenhuisen's seat in the KwaZulu-Natal Legislature. Steenhuisen is a member of the Rules Committee. He previously served as a member of the Joint Standing Committee on the Financial Management. He also formerly served as the DA's Shadow Minister for Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs.
Steenhuisen was appointed Chief Whip of the DA caucus on 29 May 2014. He was reappointed to the post in May 2019.
Steenhuisen is known for his oratory skills and has delivered many speeches to Parliament that have been noted for their wit and incisive criticism of African National Congress leadership, including previous South African President Jacob Zuma.
Leadership of the Democratic Alliance (2019–present)
Interim leadership election
resigned as Federal Leader and Parliamentary Leader of the DA in October 2019, causing Steenhuisen to lose the title of chief whip. Steenhuisen's deputy, Jacques Julius, served as the acting chief whip. Steenhuisen declared his candidacy to succeed Maimane as parliamentary leader and was elected unopposed on 27 October 2019. He formally announced on 28 October 2019 that he would run for Federal Leader of the party. He was elected to the position on an interim capacity on 17 November 2019 after he defeated Gauteng MPL Makashule Gana.2020 leadership campaign
On 15 February 2020, he declared his intention to seek a full-term as Federal Leader of the DA at the Hellenic Community Centre in Mouille Point, Cape Town. Several public representatives attended the launch of his campaign, including Western Cape Premier Alan Winde, the head of the party's governance unit James Selfe, Shadow Minister of Justice and Correctional Services Glynnis Breytenbach, and DA chief whip in the National Assembly Natasha Mazzone.Steenhuisen is facing Gauteng provincial leader John Moodey and KwaZulu-Natal MPL Mbali Ntuli for the position. He is regarded as the frontrunner for the position. He has the endorsements from seven out of the nine DA provincial leaders. KwaZulu-Natal provincial leader Zwakele Mncwango is backing Ntuli.
The party was scheduled to elect its new leadership in May 2020 at its Federal Congress, but this was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Consequently, Steenhuisen suspended all campaign activities. DA leadership structures have since resolved to hold the conference virtually between 31 October and 1 November, a move that some critics have denounced as being favourable to Steenhuisen's campaign.
Other activities
In the early days of Steenhuisen's leadership, the party lost control of the City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality in December 2019. In August 2016, then-DA leader Mmusi Maimane formed an informal alliance with the Economic Freedom Fighters to secure control of several hung municipalities, including Johannesburg with Herman Mashaba of the DA as the city's mayor. Mashaba resigned as mayor in October 2019 and left office in November. A vacancy was therefore created. DA Gauteng leader John Moodey and party provincial chair Michael Moriarty were seen as being supportive of the EFF co-operation with the DA. DA Federal Council chair Helen Zille and Steenhuisen both opposed a coalition agreement with the EFF. On 4 December, the ANC regained control of the city of Johannesburg. Previous DA coalition partners and a few DA councillors voted for the ANC candidate Geoff Makhubo.During the COVID-19 pandemic, the DA launched a coronavirus information channel. On 8 May 2020, Steenhuisen delivered a speech in which he called for the national lockdown to be halted. Steenhuisen called the lockdown "destructive" and said, "there is no longer a justification to keep this hard lockdown in place." He also said that the DA had written to the International Monetary Fund and filed a PAIA complaint to obtain the minutes of the National Command Council's decision to retain the tobacco ban.
On 14 May 2020, a heated interview occurred wherein Steenhuisen became agitated on live television following SABC News journalist Flo Letoaba's query as to who he was speaking on behalf of with regards to the critique of the ANC's handling of the national lockdown which he presented. Steenhuisen sarcastically asked on multiple occasions during the interview whether Letoaba would like a list of all those he spoke on behalf of and went on to accuse her of "being in the president's corner".