Annette Steyn (born 2 June 1969) is a South African retired politician, formerly a Member of the

National Assembly In politics, a national assembly is either a unicameral legislature, the lower house of a bicameral legislature, or both houses of a bicameral legislature together. In the English language it generally means "an assembly composed of the repre ...

for the official opposition Democratic Alliance (DA). Steyn was first elected to

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

in 2009 and served in the Shadow Cabinet in various positions. She was also at one stage the DA Eastern Cape Provincial Chairperson.

Political career

Steyn previously served as a municipal councillor of the former

Gariep Local Municipality Gariep Local Municipality is a defunct local municipality (South Africa), local municipality in Joe Gqabi District Municipality, Eastern Cape. The municipality was merged with Maletswai Local Municipality immediately after the August 2016 Local M ...

in the

Eastern Cape The Eastern Cape is one of the provinces of South Africa. Its capital is Bhisho, but its two largest cities are East London and Gqeberha. The second largest province in the country (at 168,966 km2) after Northern Cape, it was formed in ...

, before her election to the

in 2009. She took office as a Member on 6 May 2009. Shortly afterwards on 14 May 2009, the DA Parliamentary Leader,

Athol Trollip Roland Athol Price Trollip (born 12 March 1964) is a South African politician and provincial chairman of ActionSA in the Eastern Cape. He was previously a member of the Democratic Alliance (DA), serving as the Federal Chairperson of the DA from ...

, appointed her to the post of Shadow Deputy Minister of Rural Development and Land Reform. In February 2012, the newly elected DA Parliamentary Leader

Lindiwe Mazibuko Lindiwe Mazibuko (born 9 April 1980) is a Swazi-born South African academic, former politician, musician and the former leader of the Official Opposition Democratic Alliance (DA). She was elected DA Parliamentary Leader on 27 October 2011, beat ...

named Steyn as the new Shadow Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, succeeding incumbent Lourie Bosman.

Kevin Mileham Kevin John Mileham (born 23 April 1971) is a South African politician, a Member of the South African Parliament for the Democratic Alliance and the Shadow Minister of Mineral Resources and Energy. Mileham was first elected to Parliament on 3 J ...

succeeded her as Shadow Deputy Minister of the Rural Development and Land Reform portfolio. Following the 2014 elections, DA Parliamentary Leader,

Mmusi Maimane Mmusi Aloysias Maimane (born 6 June 1980) is a South African politician, businessman, and Leader of Build One South Africa, a political party. Maimane is also the former Leader of South Africa, South Africa's opposition Democratic Alliance (So ...

, kept Steyn in her position. In her capacity as a Shadow Minister, Steyn has suggested that the national government should provide drought relief to struggling

Northern Cape The Northern Cape is the largest and most sparsely populated province of South Africa. It was created in 1994 when the Cape Province was split up. Its capital is Kimberley. It includes the Kalahari Gemsbok National Park, part of the Kgalagadi T ...

farmers. She called for the Land Bank to allocate agricultural land to emerging black farmers. She proposed an SIU Investigation into corruption allegations at the Department of Agriculture. Steyn claimed in 2018 that a total of 85,000 jobs in the South African

sugar industry The sugar industry subsumes the production, processing and marketing of sugars (mostly sucrose and fructose). Globally, most sugar is extracted from sugar cane (~80% predominantly in the tropics) and sugar beet (~ 20%, mostly in temperate cli ...

were being marginalised. In June 2019, following her re-election, Steyn was named Shadow Minister of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development by

. Following

John Steenhuisen John Henry Steenhuisen (born 25 March 1976) is a South African politician who has served as the leader of the Opposition since October 2019 and has been the federal leader of the Democratic Alliance since November 2020, having served as the in ...

's election as leader of the DA, he appointed her to his shadow cabinet in the same position. On 15 June 2022, Steyn announced her retirement from politics to spend more time with her family. She resigned as an MP on 30 June 2022.

References

External links

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Parliament of South Africa - Mrs Annette Steyn
, - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Steyn, Annette Living people 1969 births Democratic Alliance (South Africa) politicians Afrikaner people 20th-century South African politicians 21st-century South African women politicians 21st-century South African politicians Women members of the National Assembly of South Africa Members of the National Assembly of South Africa Politicians from the Eastern Cape