DA leader, Geordin Hill-Lewis, has approached the president, Cyril Ramaphosa, to authorise a significant reshuffle of the party’s representatives within the government of national unity.
The proposed changes would see the former party leader and current minister of agriculture, John Steenhuisen, demoted to the position of deputy minister of trade, industry and competition. The move is intended to address performance concerns within the agricultural sector, paving the way for the current minister of forestry, fisheries and the environment, Willie Aucamp, to assume control of the critical agriculture portfolio.
The internal reorganisation follows mounting dissatisfaction from the farming community regarding the government’s response to recent foot-and-mouth disease outbreaks. Steenhuisen, who assumed the ministerial role in July 2024 after stepping down as the party leader, faced intense scrutiny over the state’s centralised approach to vaccine procurement and subsequent legal challenges regarding private inoculations. While the department successfully secured millions of vaccine doses to protect the national herd, analysts and agricultural stakeholders maintained that the crisis was mishandled. Aucamp, who has a background in farming and is viewed as an approachable figure by commercial agriculture unions and is expected to stabilise relations with rural stakeholders and accelerate disease control measures.
Steenhuisen had previously defended his record in the portfolio, pointing to a recent 11% surge in agricultural exports and ongoing international engagements regarding fertiliser reforms. Following his departure from the party leadership in April, he expressed satisfaction with his political legacy, noting that securing a place in the coalition government was a “mission accomplished”. He had previously indicated a desire to focus exclusively on his national executive duties. Addressing the proposed changes, officials from the political formation emphasised that executive appointments must be strictly tied to administrative performance and the ability of the party to demonstrate tangible improvements in governance.
The proposed executive changes now require formal presidential approval before they can be officially implemented. If Ramaphosa accedes to the request, Aucamp will immediately be tasked with managing the ongoing foot-and-mouth disease litigation and restoring investor confidence in a sector vital to national food security and rural employment. The reshuffle will also necessitate further adjustments within the broader cabinet to fill the environmental portfolio vacancy, as the political formation seeks to solidify its governance credentials ahead of the forthcoming local government elections.
