WATCH: Voting for ANC or EFF ‘will make collapse of Zimbabwe look like a dress rehearsal’ – Steenhuisen

Democratic Alliance (DA) leader John Steenhuisen has warned South Africans that if they vote for the African National Congress (ANC) or the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) in the 2024 general elections, they will be a creating “doomsday scenario that will make the collapse of Zimbabwe look like a dress rehearsal and leave all South Africans destitute”.

Steenhuisen made the remarks during an interview on BBC’s HARDTalk with Stephen Sackur.

Watch the interview with John Steenhuisen:

Steenhuisen creating fear

The DA leader was asked whether he was creating fear when he made the comments.

That’s not fear mongering, its telling people the honest truth. If one looks at the EFF’s policies and everywhere they’ve been applied in the world… they’ve only caused further unemployment, misery, hunger and poverty.

SA on ‘edge of frightening abyss’

Asked if he was plunging the country into “racial and ethnic conflict, the likes of which it had not seen before” with his comments, Steenhuisen affirmed his suggestion that South Africa was on “the very edge of the most frightening abyss”.

I would say absolutely, that’s being truthful to voters, because if the ANC and the EFF tie-up, and having seen how extractive the EFF has been on the ANC… imagine how terrifying it’s going to be when the ANC would rely on them for their votes to be able to secure a majority.

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In April, Steenhuisen made a vow to stop what he called an “ANC-EFF doomsday coalition” from taking over the country, after being re-elected as leader during the party’s elective congress in Midrand.

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Black DA leader

At the time, ousted Johannesburg Mayor Mpho Phalatse contested the leadership of the DA, but was defeated by Steenhuisen.

During the BBC interview, Steenhuisen also said “race doesn’t matter” in the leadership of the party when asked if Phalatse who is highly qualified would have had “greater appeal” if she was leading the DA.

But we’ve been down that road before Stephen and you interviewed Mr [Mmusi] Maimane when he was the leader of the Democratic Alliance and we ended up with the worst result we had in a national election since then, which shows that race doesn’t matter.

Getting the job done

“What matters is the ability to be able to make a compelling argument to people. I was also elected and defeated Ms Phalatse with a very, very big majority at a congress that was overwhelmingly made up of delegates who were not white South Africans.

“They were looking for the person who could best land the party’s message and get the job done,” Steenhuisen said.

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