The leader of South Africa\u2019s Democratic Alliance, a key member of the ruling coalition, plans to step down at internal elections in two months, after facing criticism over his leadership. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
John Steenhuisen, who\u2019s led the DA since 2019, won\u2019t stand for another term at the party\u2019s elective conference in April, according to people familiar with the matter who asked not to be identified as the information isn\u2019t public. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
A formal announcement is expected to be made as soon as Wednesday, they said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
His departure would raise fresh uncertainty over South Africa\u2019s coalition government, which has been fractious since its formation by the African National Congress 18 months ago, including a standoff last year that\u00a0delayed<\/a>\u00a0the approval of the national budget. <\/p>\n\n\n\n It would also pave the way for Cape Town Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis to stand as party leader.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The rand pared a gain of as much as 1.1% to trade 0.5% stronger at R16.01 per dollar as of 12h33 in Johannesburg.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Steenhuisen, who also serves as South Africa\u2019s agriculture minister, said he\u2019s unable to comment on whether he\u2019ll run for the party leadership position before nominations for the post open on 24 February.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cMarkets don\u2019t like anything that can be interpreted as increasing political uncertainty, but I think there\u2019s some relief that it isn\u2019t a conflict with the ANC, that it seems to be an internal DA issue,\u201d said Henrik Gullberg, a macro strategist at Coex Partners. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cHaving said that, anything that could undermine the stability of the GNU and the reform-focused DA is likely to be initially ZAR negative, at least until there is more detail on the replacement.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n