DA provincial boss sticking tightly to his beloved project
DA GAUTENG leader John Moodey has set his sights on retaining his position primarily to fulfil his party’s “2006 project” of having the provincial administration under the control of his party.
Moodey will be contesting the provincial leadership against Ghaleb Cachalia, who joined the DA before the 2016 local government elections. Cachalia was the DA’s mayoral designate in Ekurhuleni but was deployed to Parliament.
He has been lobbied to challenge for provincial leadership to take over from Moodey but the incumbent has welcomed the challenge.
Moodey was adamant that he wanted to complete his “2006 project”, which was hatched in the heart of Orange Farm, in the Vaal.
The provincial elective conference will be held at Gallagher Convention Centre on November 18.
Explaining the 2006 project, Moodey said that at the time, his party had the lowest membership of black people in the province.
Moodey had been a member of the DA in 1996, then known as the Democratic Party (DP). He conceded that it was easy for his party to garner support in traditional white, Indian and Coloured communities.
It was difficult then to penetrate the black communities and traditional ANC strongholds, Moodey said, adding “we were labelled as a party of white interests”.
“During that time in 2006, I met a young man, Nkosinathi Dlamini. He was already a DA member. He said we must come across to where he lived in Orange Farm,” Moodey said.
He said Dlamini, who later became a DA councillor at the City of Joburg, was instrumental in the recruitment of black people to the DA in Orange Farm.
Moodey said it was in Orange Farm where the concept of the “2006 project” was founded. He said they gave themselves a deadline of 2019 to ensure most of the people of Gauteng vote for the DA during the upcoming national elections.
Dlamini died in December 2013, prior to him fulfilling his wish, but Moodey said he now owes it to him to ensure the dream is realised. While alive, Moodey said they managed to recruit various people into a group of 25 people and more to set up a branch in Orange Farm.
Their efforts soon spread to other parts of the province. They were not alone in the mission. Moodey also included DA MPLs Khume Ramulifho, Makashule Gana and Thomas Walters among those who played a role in increasing DA support.
In 2009, the DA only managed to secure 21.8% of the provincial vote, but that support grew by more than 12% in the 2011 local government elections.
In the 2014 national elections, the DA managed to secure 1.35 million votes out of 3.5 million people who voted in Gauteng. Due to the outcome of the elections, the ANC’s 64% obtained in 2009 was reduced by 10%.
The DA also made significant increases in their support base after the outcome of the national local government elections in August 2016 and with the assistance of other parties like the EFF and Freedom Front is now the governing party in the City of Joburg and Tshwane.
The ANC retained Ekurhuleni under Mzwandile Masina.
Giving reasons for his increasing support, Moodey said: “It was about meeting targets and holding our people accountable.”
He, however, conceded that the Nkandla scandal in which former Public Protector Thuli Madonsela found that taxpayers’ money was used to pay for non-security upgrades at President Jacob Zuma’s home also assisted in the growth of his party’s membership.
“Indeed, our party membership grew. The people were saying the president (Jacob Zuma) had taken us for granted as a nation. He built himself a castle while people lived in poverty,” Moodey said.
He admitted that other scandals like the Guptas landing at Waterkloof Air Base also contributed to the increase in support.
Asked about his future if he loses to Cachalia, Moodey said he would continue to pursue the 2006 project.