One of outgoing DA leader John Steenhuisens staunchest loyalists and confidants has insisted that the agriculture minister was not pushed, nor did he jump, from the partys leadership race.
Public works and infrastructure minister Dean Macpherson, who is also a long-serving Steenhuisen campaign manager at the DA level, has suggested that Steenhuisen would have been re-elected comfortably to his third term at the partys upcoming federal congress scheduled for April.
But some within the DA have intimated that Steenhuisen resolved to step aside after relentless pressure from influential party figures and critical outside stakeholders, such as funders, after allegations that he had abused his party-allocated credit card.
