Steenhuisen says he ‘brought more black voters to DA than Mmusi Maimane’

DA leader John Steenhuisen said he has attracted more black votes to his party than former leader Mmusi Maimane.

‘I have grown the DA’ – Steenhuisen

Steenhuisen said he had performed well as the leader of the DA.

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“I am very happy with a number of things we have been able to do. We have been able to consolidate our base and we have been able to win back support. But if I look at our growth among black south Africans it has doubled since the last election,” he said.

As election results continue to roll in, the DA is performing well on the leaderboard at the IEC’s results operations centre (ROC), guaranteeing the party a significant number of seats in parliament. The party is also doing well in Gauteng, where a coalition is expected to be formed.

“I have got more black votes than Mr Maimane got when he was a leader,” Steenhuisen claimed.

ALSO READ: ‘I had to talk about why I left the DA’ – Maimane on why he wrote a book

The DA leader said there were comments in different quarters that his party’s support would decline in the 2024 elections. He said he was glad that the DA has proved them wrong.

“One of the media houses after 2019 proudly produced a front page that said the death of the DA. Well those reports of our death have been greatly exaggerated. Here we are after an election having grown from 2019, going back to parliament with more seats than ever before,” he said.

Steenhuisen said he believes he has fulfilled his job as DA leader.

“We have new voters and I am very pleased with that. I hope you are going to be asking Mr. Ramaphosa and Mr. Malema and all the people whose parties have declined how you rate their leadership,” he said.

Steenhuisen’s leadership has been questioned a number of times, including when an advert of the South African flag burning was aired.

There was also a belief that he had alienated black voters, which he has refuted.    

Keep track of the live election results HERE.