POWER SHIFT ANALYSIS: Aucamp rises as Steenhuisen falls in DA’s proposed Cabinet reshuffle

DA leader Geordin Hill-Lewis has asked President Cyril Ramaphosa to move Willie Aucamp from the environment to the agriculture portfolio, replacing John Steenhuisen in a Cabinet reshuffle that could deepen concerns about the capture of South Africa’s wildlife and rural policy by hunting, game breeding and ‘sustainable use’ interests.

South Africa’s Government of National Unity (GNU) is facing a significant Cabinet shake-up after Democratic Alliance leader Geordin Hill-Lewis formally requested changes to the party’s representatives in the national executive, including the removal of former DA leader John Steenhuisen as minister of agriculture.

But the most consequential figure in the reshuffle may not be Steenhuisen but Willie Aucamp.

Aucamp, currently minister of forestry, fisheries and the environment, is being lined up to replace Steenhuisen at agriculture. The move would shift a politician already criticised by conservation groups for his closeness to the wildlife-ranching, hunting and game-breeding sector into a portfolio that sits at the centre of rural production, animal disease control, land use and agricultural trade.

In a statement, Hill-Lewis said he had written to President Cyril Ramaphosa “setting out several changes to the Democratic Alliance’s representation in the national executive”, arguing that the proposed team would strengthen the DA’s contribution to the government and better reflect the mandate it received from voters in the 2024 election.

Under the proposal, Aucamp’s immediate mandate would be to resolve ongoing legal proceedings relating to foot-and-mouth disease, work with the agricultural sector to bring the crisis under control and continue the work of opening new markets for South African agricultural products.

Aucamp’s elevation is politically loaded. He was appointed environment minister only months ago after the removal of Dion George, whose hard line on captive lion breeding, rhino horn exports and the lion-bone trade had angered parts of SA’s wildlife-use industry.

George’s removal was widely interpreted by conservationists as a victory for the commercial wildlife lobby. Aucamp’s family and political networks have been linked to game farming and hunting.

He has publicly aligned himself with the language of “sustainable use”, a term embraced by wildlife ranchers, hunting bodies and trade advocates but viewed by critics as a cover for the commodification of wild animals.

Documents prepared during the controversy over George’s removal argued that Aucamp was closely associated with organisations in the wildlife-breed