John Steenhuisen

2023 - 2 - 15

Post cover — Image courtesy of "Independent Online"

Police Minister Bheki Cele forced to withdraw remarks that DA ... (Independent Online)

EFF leader Julius Malema jumped to the defence of DA leader John Steenhuisen when Police Minister Bheki Cele labeled him an abuser during the Sona debate on ...

EFF leader Julius Malema said Cele had nothing to do with Steenhuisen’s marital life. He said before he decided to rule on the issue, Cele had already sent a message that he wished to apologise. Cele had raised the issue during the Sona debate on Tuesday when he called on DA women to speak out against Steenhuisen for abusing the woman before they got married.

State of the Nation address debate opens 2024 election season early (Mail and Guardian)

DA leader says voters face a clear choice in next year's national polls after president lost the opportunity to pull back from the brink.

Let us not delude ourselves that South Africa can survive a government that has made promises, reneged on promises, made plans, gone back on plans, changed direction, moved backwards and stood still, all while our country is burning.” Or we will have a blue coalition, led by the DA, that leads our country across the Rubicon into a better, brighter and more prosperous future.” Even if this government were to wake up now and do its job, there is no guarantee it will be enough to claw our government back from disaster,” he said. “We tried the idealism of the new dawn, and it turned into a false dawn. For that is what we in the DA offer this country.” That you, Mr President, are guilty of something even worse than the thing you once accused Zuma of,” he said.

Ramaphosa's administration worse than Zuma's: DA - SABC News ... (SABC News)

State of the Nation Address by President Cyril Ramaphosa at the Cape Town City Hall. Democratic Alliance (DA) leader John Steenhuisen says President Cyril ...

Steenhuisen reminded Ramaphosa how the administration under Zuma was labelled nine wasted years. First as tragedy, and then as fuss and that is exactly what you have brought on South Africa.” He says, “If you thought that we lost some gains under Zuma, then under this administration we have gained only losses.

South Africa under Ramaphosa is a disaster - Steenhuisen (News24)

As opposition parties tore apart President Cyril Ramaphosa's state of the nation address, ANC members of Parliament were at their defensive best as they ...

As cadre deployment corruption rips apart the very fabric of the state, there is only one party that runs a clean and competent provincial government in the Western Cape." "On Thursday, a courageous leader who really cared about this nation would have had the head and the heart to admit that his party was wrong. He mentioned the DA was the only party which was capable of fixing the mess created by the ANC. This was in reference to Ramaphosa’s announcement of a new ministry in the presidency to deal with the electricity and energy crisis. Steenhuisen accused Ramaphosa of being too weak, too indecisive and too cowardly to take on the cadres, the compromised and the vested interests in the political party he led. That it’s time to cross the Rubicon and embrace the opposite of socialism, which is power to the people," he added.

Sona debate: SA can't rely on 'resilience', says Steenhuisen (Eyewitness News)

The DA leader went so far as to say Ramaphosa's administration was no different to former President Jacob Zuma's 'nine wasted years' during the post-Sona ...

“That you, Mr President, are guilty of something even worse than the thing you once accused Zuma of. “Instead of getting the State out of the way of private electricity generation, he gave powers to the same minister who abused those powers during the Covid crisis last year [2022]. Last Thursday, during his State of the Nation Address Ramaphosa announced he will soon appoint a minister of electricity to deal with the energy crisis.

SA will cross Rubicon without Ramaphosa – John Steenhuisen ... (Politicsweb)

DA leader says what happened under Zuma was a tragedy, but what happened under current President's watch is a farce.

The challenges we face are large, and tough battles lie ahead of us. And as power cuts get worse by the day, there is only one party that is working day and night to end load-shedding where we govern. And a social market economy that embraces the private sector as a partner. Commitment to the rule of law. To double down on the same failed ANC approach of state control that created the crisis in the first place. Rather than seeking to control “all levers of power,” the DA stands for something fundamentally different, and better. By making the right choice in 2024, voters can bring this same DA difference at a national level. The men, women and children of this country are tired to their very core from the abuse the ANC has put them through. On Thursday, a courageous leader who really cared about this nation would have had the head and the heart to admit that his party is wrong. Mr Ramaphosa clearly believed that the people would simply follow him as he told us to turn away from the Rubicon. Because it is democracy that offers us a way out when a leader has nothing but platitudes left to offer. But to get there – to turn our backs on decades of failed ANC policies – we first had to cross that great river.

Shots across the bow from both sides of the House as electioneering ... (Daily Maverick)

If any doubt existed that electioneering for the 2024 general election is well under way, the opening day of the Sona debate debunked that.

to use a young woman, who came to work in your office and who was the wife of your colleague, and you took that wife of your colleague and you divorce your own wife. “I hear echoes of PW Botha in 1985 when John, Honourable Steenhuisen here, spoke of crossing the Rubicon. To double down on the same failed ANC approach of state control that created the crisis in the first place.” Malema got the most points of order, parliamentary moves to disrupt a speaker. It’s part of the DA’s playbook. “By making the right choice in 2024, voters can bring this same DA difference at a national level. “What you are listening to was not a real Sona. The curious bits came from Mineral Resources and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe, who went off his prepared speech, saying: “Honourable Malema, you opted out of the Sona. “I want to make a clarion call today, especially to DA women, that as we see these problems of gender-based violence… “I know only of one prime minister that was assassinated — Verwoerd. But the turn to gutter politics did come from the ANC. ANC Chief Whip Pemmy Majodina opened the State of the Nation Address (Sona) debate, saying the governing party would “debunk falsehoods [of] some politicians and media that this President and government [have] not done anything”.