Dion George hits back at Helen Zille, says she is waging a 'smear campaign' against him

The DA's former Federal Finance Chairperson and former Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment, Dr Dion George, has accused Helen Zille of making false allegations against him, that include irregular staff appointments to his ministerial office and inflated salaries at public expense.

George said the party had never brought these charges against him, describing it as a smear campaign after he announced his resignation from the DA. 

George announced his resignation last week following the report of the DA’s Federal Legal Commission (FLC), which cleared the party’s leader, John Steenhuisen, of allegations regarding the misappropriation of DA funds via a party-issued credit card.

George had pushed the party to investigate Steenhuisen and he claims that this led to his recall as a Minister and the party issuing charges against him.

In the statement issued shortly after George resigned, the DA’s federal Council Chairperson, Zille, described his resignation as “unfortunate”, adding that he left before the internal disciplinary processes against him could conclude. 

Zille said the allegations faced by George included irregular staff appointments to his ministerial office and inflated salaries at public expense. 

He also faced accusations that staff in his ministry sought departmental information to pursue internal party political matters, bringing the party into disrepute through the media, Zille said.

Zille said it would have been preferable for George to go through the Federal Legal Commission (FLC) process to test the veracity of these allegations.   

The statement was released on January 15, shortly after George’s announcement that he was leaving the DA.

However, in his response to the DA through his lawyers, Gittins Attorneys INC, George said 'there was never a disciplinary, ethical, or investigatory process initiated in accordance with the DA’s own rules, the principles of natural justice, or constitutional standards of fairness, as alluded to by Zille in this regard'.

The current Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment (DFF), Willie Aucamp, in December 2025, lodged a complaint with the Public Protector against George, alleging that he misused state resources to investigate his private business affairs, including links to the lion breeding industry, after he took office. 

The party also accused George of leaking internal financial information and airing internal grievances through the media.

His attorneys said these allegations have never been formally put to George in writing, to date. 

“And the who, what, where, and when intricacies of the various smear campaigns against our client’s character have never been justified,” read the statement released on Monday.

DA spokesperson Jan de Villiers insisted that the FLC investigation found a number of grounds to charge George in terms of the DA constitution and established FLC practices.

“Unfortunately, Dr George decided to leave the party rather than face disciplinary proceedings, where he or his attorneys would have had all the opportunity to state his case,” he said.

George was fired as minister in November after Steenhuisen’s request to President Cyril Ramaphosa to remove him from his position, citing poor performance.

George claimed he was targeted because, as the DA's Federal Finance Chairperson, he had blocked Steenhuisen’s party credit card due to “serious financial irregularities” and “unreconciled personal expenses”, such as Uber Eats and family household expenses.

He claimed that he was "purged" for refusing to favour the captive lion breeding and hunting industry. He claimed Steenhuisen replaced him with Aucamp, an ally of the wildlife-ranching lobby, to protect specific commercial interests.

He claimed that Aucamp failed to disclose personal commercial interests and potential conflicts of interest, as he and his family have direct ties to the lion breeding and hunting industry.

He also characterised his removal as a "purge" of independent voices within the DA who opposed to Steenhuisen's leadership style and his perceived "capture" by the ANC.

George's legal team said that while the allegations (against George) require formal notice, an opportunity to respond and present evidence, none of this has been pursued by the DA. 

The law firm added that the DA has also adopted the stance that 'these wild, unsubstantiated allegations can be pursued by the party, without formal notice, without documentation and without affording our client a right to reply'.

The lawyers added that George has systematically been denied information and documentation, including the “secret part report” conveniently exonerating Steenhuisen from the abuse of the party’s credit card.

“The latter is no trivial matter; the implications are that Minister Steenhuisen has viewed the funds from donors as his own, open to personal abuse. Again, in a corporate setting this would attract sanction, not a whitewash,” said the attorneys, adding that George’s resignation from Parliament and from the DA was a principled decision taken to remove political distractions and does not constitute an admission of wrongdoing."

In his resignation letter, George said the report was his final straw.

He dismissed the report as a “whitewash” and accused the party of "cooking the books" to protect its leader.

manyane.manyane@inl.co.za