WATCH: Steenhuisen says he is exiting DA leadership race to focus on devastating foot-and-mouth outbreak  

By Des Erasmus

DA leader John Steenhuisen will not contest for re-election as party leader come April, saying on Wednesday he wanted to focus on his duties as minister of agriculture instead, and on efforts to contain the devastating foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) gripping the South African farming community.

“I today announce that I will not seek re-election for a third term as a DA federal leader at the party’s upcoming Federal Congress, and I do so with a full heart, knowing that…my work in government now requires me to, similarly, pour my heart and soul and all of my energy into defeating Foot and Mouth Disease,” he said at a press briefing in Durban.

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Sections of the DA’s traditional farming-aligned constituency have been openly scathing about Steenhuisen’s response to the ongoing