{"id":92851,"date":"2025-11-13T18:07:45","date_gmt":"2025-11-13T18:07:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/steenhuisen-dismisses-claims-he-asked-ramaphosa-to-act"},"modified":"2025-11-13T18:25:34","modified_gmt":"2025-11-13T18:25:34","slug":"steenhuisen-dismisses-claims-he-asked-ramaphosa-to-act","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/steenhuisen-dismisses-claims-he-asked-ramaphosa-to-act","title":{"rendered":"Steenhuisen Dismisses Claims He Asked Ramaphosa to Act"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – South-Africa. <\/strong><\/span>Democratic Alliance (DA) leader John Steenhuisen has dismissed suggestions that he asked President Cyril Ramaphosa to boot Dion George as Minister of Forests, Fisheries and the Environment due to alleged underperformance or external pressures.<\/p>\n

George, who\u2019s been in Brazil this week attending the world\u2019s biggest climate summit, COP30, officially received the chop on Wednesday night and has been replaced by the party\u2019s spokesperson, Willie Aucamp.<\/p>\n

Ramaphosa, acting on Steenhuisen\u2019s request on Wednesday night, put to bed almost a week of murmurs about a mini switch-up.<\/p>\n

Just more than 15 months into the Government of National Unity (GNU), the DA is making the first changes to its executive line-up of six ministers and six deputy ministers.<\/p>\n

Steenhuisen said there was no malicious intentbehind George\u2019s removal.<\/p>\n

\u201cLike any organisation, and any governments in the world, you assess how things are going and you obviously try to move people around to make sure you are getting the maximum benefit of that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Steenhuisen said following the axing of former Deputy Minister of Trade Andrew Whitfield by Ramaphosa in June over an unsanctioned overseas trip, he thought George would be a perfect fit.<\/p>\n

\u201cGiven the importance of the trade relationship, his obvious ties with the US [United States], his expertise in economics and finance, he was the DA\u2019s finance spokesperson, and I really thought he would do a wonderful job as the deputy minister at the Department of Trade, Industry and Competition.\u201d<\/p>\n

With George having turned down the job, Steenhuisen put forward the party\u2019s Alexandra Abrahams instead, who has now been endorsed by the president.<\/p>\n

Abrahams had until now been serving on Parliament\u2019s Social Development Committee.<\/p>\n

Steenhuisen said the new appointments will strengthen the DA\u2019s contribution to the GNU.<\/p>\n

Thanking George for his service, Steenhuisen said he looked forward to working with him in other important roles, which he did not specify.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About South-Africa<\/span> Follow Africa-Press<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – South-Africa. Democratic Alliance (DA) leader John Steenhuisen has dismissed suggestions that he asked President Cyril Ramaphosa to boot Dion George as Minister of Forests, Fisheries and the Environment due to alleged underperformance or external pressures. George, who\u2019s been in Brazil this week attending the world\u2019s biggest climate summit, COP30, officially received the chop […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":92850,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,7,12],"tags":[275],"class_list":["post-92851","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-head-lines","category-policy","tag-south-africa-2"],"yoast_head":"\nSteenhuisen Dismisses Claims He Asked Ramaphosa to Act - South Africa<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Democratic Alliance (DA) leader John Steenhuisen has dismissed suggestions that he asked President Cyril Ramaphosa to bo ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/steenhuisen-dismisses-claims-he-asked-ramaphosa-to-act\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Steenhuisen Dismisses Claims He Asked Ramaphosa to Act\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Democratic Alliance (DA) leader John Steenhuisen has dismissed suggestions that he asked President Cyril Ramaphosa to bo ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/steenhuisen-dismisses-claims-he-asked-ramaphosa-to-act\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"South Africa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-11-13T18:07:45+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-11-13T18:25:34+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2025\/11\/sm_1763045680.993091.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"630\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/steenhuisen-dismisses-claims-he-asked-ramaphosa-to-act#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/steenhuisen-dismisses-claims-he-asked-ramaphosa-to-act\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Steenhuisen Dismisses Claims He Asked Ramaphosa to Act\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-11-13T18:07:45+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-11-13T18:25:34+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/steenhuisen-dismisses-claims-he-asked-ramaphosa-to-act\"},\"wordCount\":335,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/steenhuisen-dismisses-claims-he-asked-ramaphosa-to-act#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2025\/11\/sm_1763045680.993091.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"South-Africa\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"head lines\",\"policy\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/steenhuisen-dismisses-claims-he-asked-ramaphosa-to-act#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/steenhuisen-dismisses-claims-he-asked-ramaphosa-to-act\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/steenhuisen-dismisses-claims-he-asked-ramaphosa-to-act\",\"name\":\"Steenhuisen Dismisses Claims He Asked Ramaphosa to Act - South Africa\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/steenhuisen-dismisses-claims-he-asked-ramaphosa-to-act#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/steenhuisen-dismisses-claims-he-asked-ramaphosa-to-act#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2025\/11\/sm_1763045680.993091.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-11-13T18:07:45+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-11-13T18:25:34+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"description\":\"Democratic Alliance (DA) leader John Steenhuisen has dismissed suggestions that he asked President Cyril Ramaphosa to bo ...\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/steenhuisen-dismisses-claims-he-asked-ramaphosa-to-act#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/steenhuisen-dismisses-claims-he-asked-ramaphosa-to-act\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/steenhuisen-dismisses-claims-he-asked-ramaphosa-to-act#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2025\/11\/sm_1763045680.993091.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2025\/11\/sm_1763045680.993091.jpg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":630,\"caption\":\"Steenhuisen Dismisses Claims He Asked Ramaphosa to Act\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/steenhuisen-dismisses-claims-he-asked-ramaphosa-to-act#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Steenhuisen Dismisses Claims He Asked Ramaphosa to Act\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/\",\"name\":\"South Africa\",\"description\":\"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\",\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"cfeditoren\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Steenhuisen Dismisses Claims He Asked Ramaphosa to Act - South Africa","description":"Democratic Alliance (DA) leader John Steenhuisen has dismissed suggestions that he asked President Cyril Ramaphosa to bo ...","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/steenhuisen-dismisses-claims-he-asked-ramaphosa-to-act","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Steenhuisen Dismisses Claims He Asked Ramaphosa to Act","og_description":"Democratic Alliance (DA) leader John Steenhuisen has dismissed suggestions that he asked President Cyril Ramaphosa to bo ...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/steenhuisen-dismisses-claims-he-asked-ramaphosa-to-act","og_site_name":"South Africa","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa","article_published_time":"2025-11-13T18:07:45+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-11-13T18:25:34+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":630,"url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2025\/11\/sm_1763045680.993091.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"cfeditoren","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"cfeditoren","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/steenhuisen-dismisses-claims-he-asked-ramaphosa-to-act#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/steenhuisen-dismisses-claims-he-asked-ramaphosa-to-act"},"author":{"name":"cfeditoren","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"headline":"Steenhuisen Dismisses Claims He Asked Ramaphosa to Act","datePublished":"2025-11-13T18:07:45+00:00","dateModified":"2025-11-13T18:25:34+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/steenhuisen-dismisses-claims-he-asked-ramaphosa-to-act"},"wordCount":335,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/steenhuisen-dismisses-claims-he-asked-ramaphosa-to-act#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2025\/11\/sm_1763045680.993091.jpg","keywords":["South-Africa"],"articleSection":["all news","head lines","policy"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/steenhuisen-dismisses-claims-he-asked-ramaphosa-to-act#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/steenhuisen-dismisses-claims-he-asked-ramaphosa-to-act","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/steenhuisen-dismisses-claims-he-asked-ramaphosa-to-act","name":"Steenhuisen Dismisses Claims He Asked Ramaphosa to Act - South Africa","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/steenhuisen-dismisses-claims-he-asked-ramaphosa-to-act#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/steenhuisen-dismisses-claims-he-asked-ramaphosa-to-act#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2025\/11\/sm_1763045680.993091.jpg","datePublished":"2025-11-13T18:07:45+00:00","dateModified":"2025-11-13T18:25:34+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"description":"Democratic Alliance (DA) leader John Steenhuisen has dismissed suggestions that he asked President Cyril Ramaphosa to bo ...","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/steenhuisen-dismisses-claims-he-asked-ramaphosa-to-act#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/steenhuisen-dismisses-claims-he-asked-ramaphosa-to-act"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/steenhuisen-dismisses-claims-he-asked-ramaphosa-to-act#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2025\/11\/sm_1763045680.993091.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2025\/11\/sm_1763045680.993091.jpg","width":1200,"height":630,"caption":"Steenhuisen Dismisses Claims He Asked Ramaphosa to Act"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/steenhuisen-dismisses-claims-he-asked-ramaphosa-to-act#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Steenhuisen Dismisses Claims He Asked Ramaphosa to Act"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/","name":"South Africa","description":"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb","name":"cfeditoren","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7417380fa9e23b5c57fdbfdaf3fdf92ee478f759a084addda5faa3732853e74a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"cfeditoren"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92851","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/84"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=92851"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/92851\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/92850"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=92851"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=92851"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=92851"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}