The DA’s Uber Eats saga risks destabilising coalitions and weakening opposition at a critical moment.
The DA’s reputation for fiscal discipline is under strain.
This after finance committee chair Dion George accused party leader John Steenhuisen of charging Uber Eats to the DA’s credit card while owing R150 000 on his personal one.
What might seem like a minor expense has escalated into a test of leadership, accountability and trust at a time when the party can least afford internal scandal.
This is not about a few burgers and fries. It is about whether the DA’s leader has been feasting on party resources while preaching fiscal discipline to the nation.
A man who lectures government about waste now looks like he couldn’t resist a midnight snack at the party’s expense.
Helen Zille, the DA’s federal council chair, has referred the matter to the federal legal commission. She has also ordered the party leaders to stop arguing through the media.
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But the smell of fast food wafts far beyond the DA’s blue walls. The public already knows Steenhuisen and George are bitter rivals. Although George has accused Steenhuisen of financial misconduct, the scandal does not end there.
George, too, is under a cloud, having been removed as minister of forestry, fisheries and environment after allegations of sexual misconduct and verbal abuse – a move reportedly driven by Steenhuisen himself.
It’s less about who ordered Uber Eats and more about who gets to eat the party alive.
The timing could not be worse. The DA heads into a crucial elective conference in 2026, with local government elections also looming next year.
Steenhuisen’s leadership future is already uncertain. Western Cape premier Alan Winde and Cape Town mayor Geordin Hill–Lewis are waiting in the wings, knives and forks ready.
The DA’s table is crowded, and the Uber Eats saga may be the tipping point.
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This is no longer about a credit card. It is about the future direction of the party – and who will lead it. For voters, the question is simple: can the DA be trusted to govern when it can’t even manage its own menu?
The consequences for the DA are stark. Its once–solid image of clean governance is rapidly eroding amid allegations of financial misconduct, sexual impropriety and toxic leadership dynamics.
Factionalism, long denied, is now unmistakably on display, weakening confidence among supporters and donors.
Election season looms, yet the party enters it bruised, distracted and divided. Steenhuisen’s authority appears fragile, even if he survives any internal investigation.
But the implications stretch far beyond the DA itself. South Africa cannot afford an opposition party – oh wait, a GNU partner that collapses into internal feuding.
In a political climate already riddled with instability, coalition fragility and declining public trust, the DA’s turmoil threatens to further destabilise governance at local and national levels.
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A weakened DA means more unpredictable coalitions, fewer checks on government power, and an easier path for the ANC-EFF-ActionSA partnership they so fear.
Ultimately, this is more than a disagreement between leaders. It is a political knife-fight unfolding at the top of the DA – one that risks reshaping its leadership, damaging its credibility and undermining its electoral prospects at a crucial time. The DA is a party at war with itself.
Unless its leaders pivot away from internal power struggles and recommit to serving voters, the consequences will be felt not only within the party’s blue walls, but across a country in desperate need of strong, credible and stable leadership.
The Uber Eats scandal is not about burgers, but about betrayal. A party that promised discipline now looks bloated with hypocrisy.
If Steenhuisen survives without consequence, the DA risks becoming the very thing it claims to oppose: an ANC that gorges itself at the buffet of corruption, just with smaller portions.
South Africa deserves better than leaders who feast while preaching restraint. If the DA cannot clear its own table, South Africans may decide it no longer deserves a seat at theirs.
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