Steenhuisen's vanishing act

John Steenhuisen was never the natural choice as leader of the DA. It was a position he stumbled into and, in the light of recent events, it's possibly one he will sooner rather than later be bundled out of.

- William Saunderson-Meyer

In the past fortnight, Steenhuisen, the minister of agriculture in the government of national unity (GNU), has twice backed the ANC line on highly controversial policies in contradiction of both the official DA position, as well as his own pre-election utterances. He is now embroiled in a bizarre incident where someone on his team airbrushed from photographic existence the presence of one of SA's leading agricultural leaders on an official visit to Berlin.

Steenhuisen's flip-flop and flip again on the expropriation Act and his equivocation on agricultural black economic empowerment (B-BBEE) are undoubtedly the politically more consequential of these events. However, the Stalinesque recasting in a government publication of actual events because they have become politically embarrassing is revealing Steenhuisen's character. It's not a flattering picture.