John Steenhuisen has put his hand up to become the Democratic Alliance’s next leader.
He on Monday announced he was availing himself for the party’s top job, while addressing the Cape Town Press Club in Newlands.
Steenhuisen, the party’s former chief whip in Parliament, was on Sunday elected to replace Mmusi Maimane as the DA’s parliamentary leader.
The DA’s federal council said it would meet soon to elect new leaders after Maimane resigned from the party last week.
Maimane, Athol Trollip and Joburg Mayor Herman Mashaba all left the party after former DA leader Helen Zille made a comeback as the party’s federal executive chairperson.
Maimane has quit saying the DA was no longer the vehicle for his vision of an all-inclusive South Africa.
Steenhuisen acknowledged that race still plays a big role in SA politics.
“The thing is that the perception (of the DA) is not born out of reality, because if you look at the Democratic Alliance, eight of the nine provincial leaders happen to be black South Africans, the two national spokespersons are black South Africans, the leader up until 72 hours ago was a black South African.”
He also revealed that more white DA members than black have resigned over the past two weeks.
Steenhuisen added: “I can’t change my skin colour. I didn’t get to press a button on the way out and choose and self-identify what colour I came out.
“What I can do is use every single fibre of my being to change what I think is wrong with South Africa and to work very hard to do it.”