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In what must be a new low in their ongoing campaign to discredit the Democratic Alliance (DA)) and smear myself, the Daily Maverick and Rebecca Davis have again exposed their vindictive agenda.

A bizarre piece penned by Davis that without a single fact or shred of evidence, tries to link my work to open market access for South African agriculture products into China with illegal wildlife trafficking.

Given that my interactions in China have only been through official government channels and interactions with my Chinese counterparts, she also is clearly attempting to implicate the Chinese government in illegal wildlife trafficking.

The only “hard evidence” that Davis provides is a post of mine from the social media platform X where she says that I am greeting “the G20 delegation from China."

In fact the delegation I am greeting in the picture is the G20 delegation from Vietnam who were here to sign a Memorandum of Understanding on Agriculture that would see more favourable access for South African agricultural products.

This clearly shows shoddy journalism and failure to do even the most basic fact checking. But this is what happens when your main task is to advance you vindictive vendetta rather than report the facts.

I am very proud of the work that the Agriculture ministry has done, together with industry bodies, to further open new markets for South African dairy, fruit, meat and wine into the Chinese markets. This is consistent with the GNU policy to deepen existing trade relationships and diversify markets for South African goods and services.

Instead of highligting the benefits of this for South Africa, Davis and the Daily Maverick, relying only on gossip and innuendo, try to conjure up some conspiracy theory that emanates from their own personal bias and animus.

I have referred the article in question to my attorneys as well as the press Ombudsman for response.

Issued by John Steenhuisen MP - Leader of the Democratic Alliance