The Gauteng leader of the Democratic Alliance (DA), John Moodey, announced his resignation from the party in a press conference on Wednesday.
Moodey has been a member of the party for 22 years and the Gauteng leader of it since 2012 (his second stint).
Moodey claimed that he no longer felt comfortable in the party. This is despite his having put himself forward as a candidate for the leadership of the party, which is due to be decided later this year. Interim party leader, John Steenhuisen, and member of the KwaZulu-Natal provincial legislature, Mbali Ntuli, are now the only candidates still in the race to succeed Mmusi Maimane, who resigned last year after a poor election result.
Moodey said that he was victimized because of his support for Maimane. He also criticized Maimane’s predecessor as leader and current chair of the party’s federal council, Helen Zille, calling her ‘tone deaf, ignorant or both’. Moodey also claimed that he was so hurt by his treatment in the party and its current direction that he could no longer sleep in a DA t-shirt.
Interim leader, Steenhuisen, hit back however, and released a press statement yesterday. In it he said that Moodey had resigned to avoid facing disciplinary charges against him. The statement said, in part, that Moodey was ‘running away from facing very serious charges relating to an attempt to frame a political opponent in a sex-for-jobs scandal, which also allegedly involved attempting to bribe two young and vulnerable first-time councillors into giving false evidence.’ It went on to say that Moodey ‘was also to face a charge that he was involved in offering these councillors promotion on the candidates’ list for the 2021 election, if they co-operated into making false statements to smear the senior politicians.’
Steenhuisen’s statement also noted that the charges against Moodey were not based on hearsay evidence but included recordings of the incriminating conversations.
The DA is also holding a policy conference this weekend.