Riyaz Patel
With Bonginkosi Madikizela dropping out of the DA leadership contest last week, it’s now a two-horse race between Parliamentary leader John Steenhuisen and Gauteng MPL Makashule Gana.
After almost a month of being without a leader, the DA will on Sunday 17 November elect an interim leader at a special Federal Council sitting in Johannesburg.
Inside Politic spoke to the two candidates ahead of the much-anticipated vote.
Limpopo native Gana has been a member of the DA since 2002 and has served in various capacities, including that of DA Youth National Leader, Shadow Human Settlements minister in Parliament and currently a DA MPL in the Gauteng legislature.
He has also served as the DA Deputy federal Chairperson, a position he was elected to in 2012.
Gana, who holds a Bachelor of Science (Mathematics and Computer Science) from the University of Limpopo and a Postgraduate Diploma in Management from Wits Business School, says he grew up in an activist family, cutting his political teeth under his uncle who was an ANC activist.
The former SASCO member says he was attracted to the DA because of its “focus on the individual and its commitment to liberal philosophy.”
Gana believes the question of race is still very much the issue in South Africa, and should he be elected DA leader, Gana says he will use his influential position to tackle the issue in the country.
“In SA, race is still a proxy for disadvantage. When the DA arrived at this conclusion in 2013 it was informed by the prevailing material conditions in the country. Nothing much has changed — if at all.
“The legacy of apartheid still persists and the government has not done enough in the past 25 years. It is thus our responsibility to work at redress and correct the wrongs and injustices of the past.”
Gana says the biggest threat to South Africa is the rise of populism which threatens to divide society even further.
“The task of the DA is thus to build an inclusive SA focused on social, economic and environmental justice. My belief is that we are better together, and if we stand together we will overcome this threat.”
Ahead of the local government elections, should he be elected, Gana says he will spend more time with DA councillors, MPs, MPLs and branch structures “so that we are all on the same page.”
“Of importance is to ensure that all our members continue to believe in the DA so as to have enough confidence when interacting with voters.”
“I will also encourage all public representatives and members to increase voter interactions, public meetings and serving the communities.”
Gana says he is passionate about development, especially the political development of young South Africans, and backs up this commitment by facilitating a political school in Gauteng that meets every second week.
“My message is that everything done for this country should be done with integrity and honesty.
“By doing so we would have a successful country. Striving for integrity and honesty should always be kept at the back of our minds so that South Africa can be successful.”
On why he should lead the DA, Gana says he is a “proven leader.”
“In the past 17 years as a member of the DA I have acquired the experience and skills needed to lead the party.“
“I bring with me new thinking and ideas, as I believe the DA has to be the party of social, economic and environmental justice, and of a growing economy, and [be] a party that appeals to young people.
“I bring with me a lot of energy and passion for the task that lies ahead. I am a proven leader.”
“I think I have an offer to make to the people of the DA.”
John Steenhuisen
Steenhuisen, who hails from KZN, began his journey into politics at a young age. In 1999 at aged 22, he became the youngest Durban City Council member in the city’s history.
In 2006, he served as Democratic Alliance’s caucus leader, the official opposition in the eThekwini council. He was also part of the City’s Executive Committee.
His career continued to advance and he went on to become Durban North’s representative for 10 years up to the 2009 General Election when he was elected leader of the DA caucus in the KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Legislature.
Prior to the turbulence that hit the DA, Steenhuisen was the party’s chief whip. When Mmusi Maimane resigned as party leader and MP, Steenhuisen lost his post because it’s tied to the term of the party’s leader.
But he almost immediately announced he would run for the position of DA Parliamentary leader, and days later declared his bid to run as party leader.
“I joined the party with the intention that one day I’d like to lead the party. It’s every politician’s dream.”
Steenhuisen told Inside Politic the DA has undergone what he terms an “ideological drift” in recent years, adding that the biggest threat to the party is if it fails to achieve and pronounce clarity and consensus on the party’s purpose and values.
“I believe the DA became ambiguous and inconsistent in setting out what it was and what it was about, this led to voters being unsure about the DA as an electoral option.
“This is why the DA needs to be absolutely crystal clear about its ideological mooring and it’s offer if it wants to win over the trust of voters who did not vote for us this election, those that have never trusted us and the hundreds of thousands of young people who have opted out of politics.”
As the Chief Whip of the biggest opposition party in Parliament, Steenhuisen has often been scathing on the ruling ANC in the chamber, and was the DA’s go-to person to sweep parliamentary debates.
Known for his straight-shooting stance, Steenhuisen was particularly critical of Cyril Ramaphosa following the President’s SONA address.
“It’s time to deal decisively with the corrupt in your own party. You cannot really expect anybody to take what you said about combating corruption seriously while the most corrupt still sit in your party benches and around your cabinet table.
“Unless that concomitant action is taken, you will never root out corruption in this house, your cabinet or our country,” he said.
Steenhuisen went on to caution the president to watch those around him since they were his ‘real enemies.’
“While you tell us to watch this space, our message to you is watch your back,” he said, adding that “the allies of growth and progress sit on these opposition benches, but your biggest obstacles sit on your own.”
“There are people on that side of the House, who are willing you to fail. The ANC is corrupt to the core, and too many people in your party have got used to the Louis Vuitton handbags and the kickbacks.”
Steenhuisen told Inside Politic that his party has become “far too responsive to the ANC, rather than setting out its own stall and offer to South Africans.”
“I want the party to focus far less in going on about how bad things are under the ANC but more about how great they can be under the DA. We have to be far more future-focused and set out innovative, progressive ideas about how we lift people out of poverty and into opportunity,” he said.
“Whatever the outcome of the election, I will respect that.
I think I have an offer to make to the people of the DA. And if they don’t want that, I think that’s fine. I’ll come back to Parliament, I’ll pick up a portfolio and continue to work.”
And that offer lies in what he calls the “project” – growing the party over the long term, and implementing liberal, free-market policies to stave off an economy in free-fall.
In classic Steenhuisen style, he brushed off suggestions by former president Thabo Mbeki that the DA publicly commit itself to non-racialism in the wake of Maimane and Johannesburg mayor Herman Mashaba’s resignations
“Mbeki is the last person who should be lecturing people on non-racialism and I would suggest that he focuses his lecturing on his own party which has moved further from non- racialism than anybody else.”
Steenhuisen says the DA is unequivocally committed to redressing the wrongs of the past.
“But it must be said that no redress policy can ever match the positive impact that a growing economy, excellent education, quality health care and safer streets would have on the lives of those who still suffer the consequences of past exclusion.
“At the heart of this challenge is how we approach the question of race. I believe the DA must unite behind the value of non-racialism,” he said.
“This should be the DA’s focus and it certainly will be if I am elected leader.”
