[imagesource: Jeffrey Abrahams / Gallo Images]
John Steenhuisen, the leader of the DA, is far from the only person to have a tense relationship with an ex-spouse.
Brad and Angelina, Johnny and Amber, and on and on the list goes.
Politicians are generally held to a slightly higher standard than Hollywood celebrities, though, and Steenhuisen’s comment about his ex-wife during an appearance on Podcast and Chill yesterday has been met with a very mixed reaction.
Hosts MacG and Sol Phenduka spent more than an hour talking with Steenhuisen about his vision for his party and South Africa on the whole.
The headline-grabber, reports TimesLIVE, came toward the end of the interview:
When the show reached the hour mark and they were about to finish, MacG asked Steenhuisen about his personal life. He replied he had a wonderful family who were a great source of strength and encouragement…
When asked by radio DJ MacG what “roadkill” is, DA leader John Steenhuisen said it “sounds a lot like my ex-wife”…
All three men had a hearty chuckle at this:
This man John Steenhuisen cheated on his wife and still calls her roadkill
Johnoo my boy
#podcast #podcastandchillwithmacg #DA #johnsteenhuisen #Sandton #JMPD #coloured pic.twitter.com/F9KxqLBeaf
— Unfiltered (@Unfilteredfax) August 18, 2022
Fist bumps and alles, hey? Way to win over the hosts.
Oh, ja, about that “cheated on his wife” comment:
MacG asked Steenhuisen about his first marriage, and said he heard it broke down because of infidelity. Steenhuisen replied that was true.
“Yes, I met somebody. I fell in love with her and she is my wife.”
You could also phrase that classic love story another way:
Steenhuisen calls the mother of his two daughters, now an ex wife, a “roadkill.
He had been married to Julie Steenhuisen for 10 years until she found that he had a recurring loose zip around the wife of another DA official Michael Beaumont (now ActionSA chair). pic.twitter.com/tccEQXLqnl
— Sentletse
(@Sentletse) August 18, 2022
The DA leader was married to Julie Steenhuisen until 2010 and married Terry Beaumont in 2014. Consider this, from a report in The Witness in October 2010 following Steenhuisen’s resignation as leader of the DA in KwaZulu-Natal:
Well-placed sources yesterday confirmed that Steenhuisen has resigned following an affair with popular DA media officer Terry Beaumont (25).
Sources within the DA yesterday confirmed the affair, saying speculation is rife over when it started given that Beaumont was married in May this year to Michael Beaumont, DA provincial director.
“It’s a soap opera,” said a source. “There is suspicion that the relationship between Terry and John began before she got married, but then why would she have married him [Beaumont]?”
Sources described Beaumont as being “impeccably dressed and well-mannered” and said he was “born to be married and a nice guy”.
A source quoted in that same article described Michael Beaumont as an “innocent victim” and labelled Julie a “strong person who is an assertive woman in her own right”.
Following the ‘roadkill’ comment, it wasn’t long before Steenhuisen was called out on Twitter:
John Steenhuisen calls his ex-wife roadkill on that damn podcast, the misogynists go wild and pledge their vote. The ex-wife he’d been cheating on for years with a married woman. And the DA is promoting that clip.
We’re about 5 seconds away from “ag it’s just a joke”.— bonsella (@tashbones) August 18, 2022
That roadkill joke didn’t land well with female DA supporters
thank you #podcastandchillwithmacg and John Steenhuisen for decampaigning for the DA. That Grandeur Gin did us all a favour
— Prince Ntuli (@PrinceNtuli7) August 18, 2022
Already John Steenhuisen is calling his ex-wife road kill in the MacG podcast. His ex-wife – the one he cheated on – over a long period.. She’s the mother of two of his daughters. all this in Women’s month. And that’s just from the trailer. #Pleaseletthatbeit.
— Why Be? (@ybardien) August 18, 2022
@jsteenhuisen hear LOUD AND CLEARLY that your public comment about your ex-wife WAS NOT OKAY. And @Our_DA likewise. In a disgustingly violent anti-women country like ours, you need to be a whole lot better, even as just a man, especially as a ‘leader’.
— brett Fish anderson (@BrettFishA) August 18, 2022
It’s John Steenhuisen being a misogynistic piece of shit on a misogynistic piece of shit podcast with a misogynistic piece of shit host, to be exact.
But that’s just my opinion. https://t.co/pvC1zcZknF
— Uncle Johnny
(@MvelaseP) August 18, 2022
We should point out that there were also plenty of people who praised Steenhuisen. Swing by the DA’s Twitter account and you’ll see many, many retweets like this:
That podcast interview introduced me to the coolest funny John Steenhuisen that I like
Bass John is such a vibe
#podcastandchillwithmacg
— Don’t Follow Me (@Athena46664) August 18, 2022
Guys lets give John steenhuisen a chance in 2024
— The Nihilist (@GodfreySkhonile) August 18, 2022
John Steenhuisen is hilarious though, yho I was cracking up right through the interview.
— #NutritarianVegan Felane (@Lunga_Felah) August 18, 2022
#podcastandchillwithmacg with John Steenhuisen way cooler than all Julius Malema interviews where he tries to be funny. pic.twitter.com/hiNY09kJpw
— Mhlekazi
(@SandileMkono_) August 18, 2022
This just in – it’s still Women’s Month in South Africa.
According to the official South African government site, the month “allows us to gauge how far we have come in transforming society”:
“…particularly the transformation of unequal power relations between women and men. While also focusing on and addressing gender oppression, patriarchy, sexism, racism, ageism, structural oppression, and creating a conducive environment which enables women to take control of their lives.”
I’d be interested to find out Steenhuisen’s take on how referring to the mother of his children as “roadkill” advances that cause.
