Leader of the Democratic Alliance (DA), John Steenhuisen, says that he is not a placeholder for Helen Zille and that, despite narratives circulating in the media, Zille is not the real power behind the DA.
During an interview with BizNews, Steenhuisen was responding to an opinion article written by veteran South African journalist, R.W Johnson.
Johnson is a historian, journalist and political analyst, with experience writing for The Times, the Sunday Times, and the London Review of Books.
An Emeritus Fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford, he was the only South African Rhodes Scholar to return to live in South Africa after the fall of apartheid. He has written 13 books, mostly on Southern African politics.
In a BizNews column titled The DA in Crisis, Johnson outlined recent controversy surrounding the DA’s current leader, where he did not mince his words in his criticism.
He discussed Steenhuisen’s removal of the Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment, Dion George, and his recently exposed credit card debt and alleged abuse of party funds.
In addition, he insinuated that the real power in the DA lies with its Federal Council Chairperson and Johannesburg Mayoral candidate, Helen Zille.
Johnson has said this explicitly in other articles. In one such article, Helen Zille’s great trek to Jo’burg, he said that Steenhuisen is the “weakest leader the DA has ever had” and is “prone to disastrous lapses in judgment.”
He added that it has been a reassurance for many that “the more experienced Zille, a steadying liberal presence, sits behind him.”
Johnson said Zille’s plans to resign from her position as federal chair if she becomes mayor of Johannesburg will cause problems for the DA.
Alec Hogg, who interviewed Steenhuisen, said this is not the first time that analysts have suggested that Zille, and not Steenhuisen, holds the real power in the party.
‘I am not a placeholder’ – Steenhuisen
“I am the leader of the DA,” Steenhuisen said. “I exercise the functions of the leadership of the party. That is how it works. I’m not a placeholder,” he said.
“A placeholder doesn’t win 83% of the vote at Congress. A placeholder would win a much smaller majority.”
However, following this, Steenhuisen explained that the party “doesn’t believe in the concentration of power in certain locations,” and that he is “accountable to the federal executive”, of which Zille is chair.
Steenhuisen said he does not have the power to remove or appoint members of the DA to certain positions, and that these are subject to the federal executive. “Ultimately, it’s the federal executive’s decision,” he said.
Helen Zille recently rejected calls from within the party to contest the federal leadership position against Steenhuisen.
It was reported that three senior sources had told Rapport there was internal lobbying for Zille to throw her hat in the ring for the DA’s elective conference in the first half of 2026.
Zille, who was leader of the party between 2007 and 2015, confirmed that she had been approached by several people within the DA to challenge Steenhuisen, but denied having any ambition for it.
“I have been approached by several people to stand, but I have no plans on doing so,” Zille told City Press.
“My sole focus is on winning Joburg, and if we do, it will be more than a full-time job. So I could not, and do not wish to, undertake anything else.”
To date, no other person within the DA has signalled their intention to challenge Steenhuisen for the party’s top job in 2026.
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