{"id":95326,"date":"2026-02-05T11:01:23","date_gmt":"2026-02-05T11:01:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/steenhuisens-saviour-complex-raises-da-cohesion-questions"},"modified":"2026-02-05T11:26:43","modified_gmt":"2026-02-05T11:26:43","slug":"steenhuisens-saviour-complex-raises-da-cohesion-questions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/steenhuisens-saviour-complex-raises-da-cohesion-questions","title":{"rendered":"Steenhuisen&#8217;s Saviour Complex Raises DA Cohesion Questions"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><b>Alpha Ramushwana<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600\"><strong>Africa-Press &#8211; South-Africa. <\/strong><\/span>While outgoing Democratic Alliance (DA) leader John Steenhuisen hails the party\u2019s shift from opposition benches to the corridors of government as his crowning achievement, there are suggestions that his tenure was not without turbulence.<\/p>\n<p>Steenhuisen announced in Durban on Wednesday that he will not seek re-election to retain his position within the party when his term ends in April.<\/p>\n<p>He said the decision is driven by his desire to focus on his role as the minister of agriculture.<\/p>\n<p>In his \u201cmission accomplished\u201d address, Steenhuisen reflected on what he described as the defining successes of his seven years at the helm.<\/p>\n<p>Not so long ago, Steenhuisen was eager and confident about running for a third term as the party\u2019s leader.<\/p>\n<p>However, now that he has decided otherwise, he\u2019s emphasised that it was under his leadership that the DA secured an office at the Union Buildings.<\/p>\n<p>He further described his leadership team as possibly the strongest in the party\u2019s history.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI worked hard with others who love our party to not only resurrect our party&#8217;s fortunes, but we also carried it to new heights.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>However, political analyst Sanusha Naidu said Steenhuisen\u2019s \u201cmission accomplished\u201d speech has raised more questions than answers.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe came across not only as the best leader of the DA, but also as the saviour complex, that he saved the DA. That in itself has triggered more internal questions about the cohesion and coherence of the party in terms of that alliance and factional spaces.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>With the party\u2019s federal congress scheduled for April, rumours are swirling about who stands the best chance to succeed Steenhuisen.<\/p>\n<p><b>Source: EWN<\/b><\/p>\n<p><strong>For More News And Analysis About <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">South-Africa<\/span> Follow <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Africa-Press<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Alpha Ramushwana Africa-Press &#8211; South-Africa. While outgoing Democratic Alliance (DA) leader John Steenhuisen hails the party\u2019s shift from opposition benches to the corridors of government as his crowning achievement, there are suggestions that his tenure was not without turbulence. Steenhuisen announced in Durban on Wednesday that he will not seek re-election to retain his position [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":95325,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,6],"tags":[275],"class_list":["post-95326","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-files","tag-south-africa-2"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Steenhuisen&#039;s Saviour Complex Raises DA Cohesion Questions - South Africa<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"While outgoing Democratic Alliance (DA) leader John Steenhuisen hails the party\u2019s shift from opposition benches to the c ...\" \/>\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\/steenhuisens-saviour-complex-raises-da-cohesion-questions\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Steenhuisen&#039;s Saviour Complex Raises DA Cohesion Questions\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"While outgoing Democratic Alliance (DA) leader John Steenhuisen hails the party\u2019s shift from opposition benches to the c ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/steenhuisens-saviour-complex-raises-da-cohesion-questions\" \/>\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=\"2026-02-05T11:01:23+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-02-05T11:26:43+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2026\/02\/sm_1770277861.627049.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\/steenhuisens-saviour-complex-raises-da-cohesion-questions#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/steenhuisens-saviour-complex-raises-da-cohesion-questions\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Steenhuisen&#8217;s Saviour Complex Raises DA Cohesion Questions\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-02-05T11:01:23+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-02-05T11:26:43+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/steenhuisens-saviour-complex-raises-da-cohesion-questions\"},\"wordCount\":296,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/steenhuisens-saviour-complex-raises-da-cohesion-questions#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/sites\/31\/2026\/02\/sm_1770277861.627049.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"South-Africa\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"files\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/steenhuisens-saviour-complex-raises-da-cohesion-questions#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/steenhuisens-saviour-complex-raises-da-cohesion-questions\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/steenhuisens-saviour-complex-raises-da-cohesion-questions\",\"name\":\"Steenhuisen's Saviour Complex Raises DA Cohesion Questions - 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