Cameroon timber
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Today, I have written to the Democratic Alliance (DA) to cancel my party membership that I have held since 1995. I also resign as the party’s Chairperson of Federal Finance and as a Member of Parliament of the Republic of South Africa, where I was first sworn in on 17 January 2008.
The situation has become intolerable. I am being pushed out and it is no longer feasible for me to remain in the Party. I heard via the media on 7 November 2025, that John Steenhuisen had written to the President to request my removal as Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment, while I was representing our country at COP30 in Brazil. My attorneys have requested documents and they are not provided and no proper explanations in writing are received. I was provided with a gag order from the Party on 24 November 2025 after I defended myself in the media. This did not apply to others, such as Willie Aucamp and John Steenhuisen who both continued to attack me without any response or support from the Party.
I cannot remain in a party that has, through the actions of its current leader, John Steenhuisen, been captured by the African National Congress (ANC) and other criminal interests. The result of this capture is that the DA has been completely muzzled and lost its voice and its ability to lead in South Africa’s interest.
When the DA decided to join the Government of National Unity (GNU), I assessed the risk that the DA could be swallowed up by the ANC. However, I supported the DA joining the GNU, because I believed it was the best available option in the interest of the country.
It is still my view that with skillful leadership, while jealously guarding our integrity, the DA’s participation in the GNU could have worked. Instead, Steenhuisen as the DA leader has been captured, because of his personal financial vulnerabilities.
I have submitted a comprehensive complaint to the Public Protector setting out how Steenhuisen abused his position under the influence of criminal interests and illicit networks to remove me as the Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment. In that leadership role I did not bow, bend or blink under the pressure of the ANC, illicit wildlife traffickers or the criminal captive lion industry in particular. I spoke up and fought to protect South Africa’s amazing and spectacular wildlife and natural resources for her people as one of our nation’s great treasures.
To cover up the actual reason for my removal, a smear campaign was attempted and when it failed, the reason became my “refusal” to take on the role of Deputy Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition (DTIC), although I was never formally offered the DTIC role.
I worked fearlessly for South Africa by holding ANC appointed department officials to account for corruption and leading several initiatives to combat illicit wildlife trafficking that included closing the terrible and criminal captive lion industry that would be a stain on the integrity and conscience of our nation. I frequently clashed with ANC leaders Gwede Mantashe and Kgosientsho Ramokgopa since I had a responsibility to hold them to account on mining appeals and emissions.
I did my job without fear, favour or prejudice, but I discovered that was not what Steenhuisen wanted. He wanted co-option. He wanted to remain in the GNU at any cost to the party values and principles and to the country’s interests. Steenhuisen effectively muzzled the DA parliamentary caucus into silence on issues crucial to South Africa, including the cost of Black Economic Empowerment and the ANC’s ongoing collusion with authoritarian governments against our vital allies like the United States. This week, the DA supported all the budgets the ANC submitted, including the DTIC that continues to discriminate against millions of South Africans and the Departments of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO) that colludes with the enemies of the democracies around the world. I cannot support a Government and a Party that perpetuates race laws. I cannot support a Government and a Party that invite South Africa’s dangerous authoritarian adversaries into our most sensitive and critical infrastructure to exploit our country and nation’s precious resources for their own nefarious gains. I cannot support a Party whose leader has completely compromised its values and principles for his personal gain, while South Africans cannot find jobs and are not safe at home.
The DA deserves a leader of the highest calibre. The DA’s Federal Legal Commission (FLC) whitewash of Steenhuisen’s credit card misuse was the final straw for me. The FLC report submitted this week is a reflection of what the party has become under failed leadership.
As the Chairperson of Federal Finance, I raised record amounts of money for the DA’s work to oppose the ANC and to build a better South Africa, because of a reputation I helped to build for the DA of integrity, strong financial controls and sound stewardship of the money entrusted by our donors. I removed the credit card provided to Steenhuisen by the DA in March 2025 at the end of the last financial year, because of serious financial irregularities. At that time, the expenses Steenhuisen incurred could not be reconciled – he was abusing DA donors’ money by incurring expenses for which the card was not intended. He incurred the irregular expenses despite the fact that the DA – at his request- was paying him an additional allowance so that his annual compensation was on par with that of the Deputy President. The statement issued by the DA on 12 January is an attempt to whitewash these irregularities and hide the truth from DA voters and donors. When I removed the credit card as Chairperson of Federal Finance in March 2025, the credit card could not be reconciled. The only way a “full reconciliation” could occur as claimed by the DA FLC, is by subsequently cooking the books. It must be asked who did that “reconciliation”? This matter requires a full and independent forensic investigation that is disclosed to the DA’s voters and donors before the upcoming DA conference in April.
Steenhuisen’s personal financial vulnerability leaves the DA with a leader who cannot challenge the ANC in the GNU, who is willing to throw countless loyal hard working DA leaders like me to the wolves when they stand up for DA members and South Africa’s interests and who cannot exit the GNU, under any circumstances, given that he is completely financially compromised.
South Africa has entirely lost its way in its economic policy and foreign policy under the GNU. The Government has not been able to negotiated the same low 10% tariff rate of other African countries with the United States. This will come at a huge price in jobs, economic growth and safety for ordinary South Africans.
The DA leadership is unable to defend and articulate the clear blue waters that previously existed between the DA and the ANC on issues that are crucial for South Africans’ future. Instead, they are silent because they know if they speak up like I did they will be axed and their reputations trashed. They all know Steenhuisen as the DA leader is financially compromised and now beholden to the ANC President.
If South Africa is going to be a healthy democracy that South Africans demand and deserve, the country needs a strong, clear, uncaptured voice. The DA could have been that voice, even in the GNU, but that required an uncorruptible leader. The DA has one final shot to make a vital and positive change in April and the party had better not miss this chance.