South Africa

DA’S MOODEY BLUES

Six out of nine provincial DA leaders face disciplinary charges

John Moodey, left, and DA interim leader John Steenhuisen. (Photos: Gallo Images / Rapport / Elizabeth Sejake | Gallo Images / Veli Nhlapo)

‘Sex-for-jobs’ scandal – or ‘homophobic attack’? The fallout from the public resignation of the DA’s Gauteng provincial leader, John Moodey, continues. Moodey has now been accused of orchestrating a ‘homophobic attack’, while he maintains his innocence and claims he is the victim of an organised takedown. Daily Maverick can also reveal Moodey’s claim that six out of nine provincial DA leaders are facing disciplinary charges to be accurate.

In one version of the story, a politician who assured scared councillors they would not be victimised for reporting a DA MP who solicited sex in exchange for jobs has ended up unfairly charged with attempting to frame the MP.

In the other version of the story, the blameless gay MP was the victim of a homophobic smear attempt by the politician.

This is currently the situation as regards the DA’s latest internal dogfight: pitting newly resigned Gauteng provincial leader John Moodey against MP and former deputy chief whip Mike Waters.

When Moodey resigned on Wednesday, he alluded to the fact that he was facing disciplinary charges for allegedly having attempted to frame “a senior parliamentary leader” in a sex-for-jobs scandal.

Moodey did not go into detail about the allegations, but presented them as part of an ongoing abuse of disciplinary processes within the DA in order to purge dissent. He implied it was significant that the charges had arisen this year after he announced his intention to challenge interim party leader John Steenhuisen for the party’s leadership in October.

Moodey said many other things too: he alleged that the DA was veering from the centre to the right, that the party appeared content to govern only the Western Cape in perpetuity, and that it was increasingly tone-deaf on racial issues.

But in a DA press conference on Thursday to control the fallout, the focus was almost entirely on Moodey’s disciplinary charges as Steenhuisen hit back.

The DA’s interim leader accused Moodey of seeking to “defame colleagues, play the race card, and cause as much damage to the party as possible” while “running away from facing a very serious set of charges”.

Said Steenhuisen: “[Moodey’s] case is one of the most serious that has ever been before the DA’s federal legal commission.”

The party’s federal legal commission deputy chair, Werner Horn, said that there was “very strong initial evidence” to support the charge that Moodey had falsely attempted to frame Waters for soliciting sex from young councillors in exchange for jobs.

“The matter doesn’t turn on allegations and counter-allegations,” said Horn, adding that there was concrete evidence available in the form of phone recordings and messages.

But when journalists asked if the relevant evidence could be released in the interests of transparency, Horn replied: “We are not able to do that at this stage because this is an ongoing investigation.”

By Thursday afternoon, Waters had entered the fray himself via a Facebook post in which he described himself as the victim of an attempt by Moodey “to destroy my political career and personal reputation”.  

Wrote Waters:

“The FLC [federal legal commission] has evidence, including a recorded discussion of Moodey, to support allegations that he and two others attempted to intimidate two young councillors in Ekurhuleni (which includes my constituency) to sign fraudulent affidavits to the effect that I, in my capacity as the chairperson of the regional candidates selection panel, tried to get them both to perform sexual favours for me in exchange for me promising to ensure that they were ranked in an electable position on the party’s lists for the 2016 local government elections.”

He continued:

“Nothing could be further from the truth. These brave young councillors refused to give in to this intimidation by the province’s most senior member and reported him, backed by substantial evidence, to influential party representatives. As an openly gay person myself, Moodey allegedly committed another cardinal sin: he targeted two vulnerable homosexual young men in a homophobic attack, aimed at defaming me. He didn’t count on two tough young Liberals fighting back.”

Waters also indicated that he would be pursuing legal action against Moodey.

This prompted a countering statement from Moodey on Thursday evening providing more detail on his alternative version of events.

“About three years ago I was approached by one of the DA members who is also being charged, whose name I am not prepared to divulge at this stage because his case has not yet been heard. He told me he had been approached by councillor Dinake and councillor Lotriet informing him that during the 2016 candidates selection process they had been approached individually by Mike Waters, the selection panel chairperson, soliciting sex in exchange for guaranteed electable positions on the Ekurhuleni Councillors list. I informed him that unless these councillors were prepared to give written statements to this effect, the matter could not be taken forward. Nothing was forthcoming and that is where the matter ended at that time.”

He stated that earlier this year he was approached by a “senior member of the Ekurhuleni caucus” who informed him that the same two councillors were worried that as the selection processes were once more approaching, they would again be put under pressure by Waters.

“I informed him that unless these two councillors were prepared to make statements about this serious matter it could not be addressed,” Moodey wrote.

Moodey claims he was subsequently told that one of the councillors was now willing to submit an affidavit containing the allegations against Waters:

“He, Clr Dinake, was however concerned that he would be victimised if he did so and was seeking assurance from myself as the provincial leader that I would take steps to protect him should he be victimised. This request by Dinake to the senior councillor was confirmed in a WhatsApp message which was forwarded to me. As the leader of the province at that stage, I had a duty to defend the processes of the party and to protect councillors with difficulties of this nature. I phoned Councillor Dinake after being requested to do so by the senior councillor and assured him that in the DA he would not be victimised if he has a genuine case to make.”    

“I deny initiating any contact with these two councillors or offering them any favours or promises of promotions if they cooperated by giving any false statements regarding and against Mike Waters. I do not know whether Mike Waters is guilty or not, but what is clear is that the matter needs to be thoroughly investigated.”

There remain many unanswered questions. Among them: why would the Gauteng provincial leader risk torpedoing an apparently stellar 20-year career to smear the reputation of a fellow party member with whom he was not in contestation for any party post?

Waters suggests the answer to this lies in longstanding conflict between the two “due to [Moodey’s] vehement ideological commitment to race-based nationalism in opposition to my well-known and strident classic Liberal approach”.

In other words: the DA’s central conflict in a nutshell.

An even more pressing question, however, is: why would the DA be publicly presenting Moodey’s guilt in the matter as a fait accompli when – by the open admission of the federal legal commission’s deputy chair – the matter is still considered an “ongoing investigation”?

The saga is already taking on the distinct hues of the DA’s disastrous handling of the disciplinary proceedings involving former Cape Town mayor Patricia de Lille – where for some time the party apparently expected the public and the media to take it on trust that compelling evidence existed against De Lille without being willing to release such evidence.

As things stand, the reputation of two senior DA figures hangs in the balance – and the DA’s leadership shows little signs of engaging in any introspection about the now-familiar critiques of the party delivered by Moodey upon his resignation.

And on one point, Moodey was correct. In his resignation press briefing, Moodey claimed that six out of nine provincial DA leaders were facing disciplinary charges – a point he raised to show how rampant such practices have become.

Daily Maverick was initially told flatly by the party’s federal legal commission that this was “not true”, while on Thursday Horn said he did not have the necessary information to hand – but “it is definitely not the case that six out of nine are to face formal disciplinary hearings”.

That may be technically accurate – but a document in possession of Daily Maverick shows that Moodey’s claim was also true.

The federal legal commission’s report to the party’s federal executive, dated August 2020, does indeed list six provincial leaders – including Moodey – in a table of “disciplinary matters” laying out “charged members”.

The provincial leaders who have been charged besides Moodey are:

  • Northern Cape’s Andrew Louw (investigation underway);
  • Limpopo’s Jacques Smalle (disciplinary hearing to be held);
  • Mpumalanga’s Jane Sithole (awaiting final investigation report);
  • Eastern Cape’s Nqaba Bhanga (investigation underway), and
  • KwaZulu-Natal’s Zwakele Mncwango (report ready to present to Fedex).  

This report has already been distributed to the party’s federal executive. Yet, when Daily Maverick asked about the charges pending against provincial leaders at Thursday’s press briefing, Steenhuisen replied that he had no access to this information due to the “firewall” that exists between the federal legal commission’s proceedings and the leader.

The party must now ready itself for the policy conference it is holding this weekend – but the messy events of the week are likely to hang in the air for quite some time. DM

Gallery

Comments - Please in order to comment.

  • Kirsty Hämmerle says:

    The DA has an unfortunate habit of shooting itself in the foot. The fact that there are so many in leadership positions facing disciplinary action is concerning. They should adopt the ANC practice of deny, deny, deny and if that doesn’t work, attack the accusers – problem solved.

  • Sydney Kaye says:

    Of course no reader can know which of two versions is true.
    But is Waters telling the story as he knows and believes it, or the story as he has been told it?
    He says The FLC [federal legal commission] “has evidence” , but not that he has seen or heard it, nor that the evidence proves what it is supposed to prove.
    Did he himself decide to make his statement for his own reasons or was it deemed to be a useful and timely support for the official version. I suppose Waters will interrogate these issues before and if he takes Moodey to court.

  • Rudd van Deventer says:

    Not sure what the complaint is? Watching what our politicians are up to is what I would expect to be the norm. I have no argument with their party examining the politician’s actions. We all insisted that the DA looked carefully at Helen Zille’ tweets, so… We all want the ‘integrity commission’ in the ANC to do its job! So what is wrong with the DA doing the same job before it becomes a scandal!
    There is obviously a story here or Moodey would not take this damaging way to exit the party. We are all going to make mistakes and in the world of politics, this is a ‘branding’ problem. So, a miss-tweet, bad action or inappropriate comment needs to be investigated and the person advised or acted against.
    Rebecca, I assume your Mommy scolded you on occasions and you have turned out OK? The risk is thinking that this sort of oversight is not necessary! Look where it got us with the ANC! It needs to be celebrated and shows that the DA has a better hold on what it means to be in power than the ANC.
    Messy is not necessarily BAD!

    • Graeme de Villiers says:

      Well said, there seems to be a wee bit more than journalistic endeavor involved here. The author appears to have an issue with all things DA.
      As has been mentioned in the comments, this is not a scandal, this is what normal should look like in a political party fiasco that makes up the South African circus. No thieves, murderers, assaulters to be seen, just squabbles really.
      If this kind of things is what ‘puts a party into disarray’ because the unscrupulous are identified and charged, then good luck to all the rest in this country!

  • Mr Ilitirit says:

    See… this is the kind of “scandal” one would expect from political parties. Not “12 members implicated in R300m tender fraud”. Its the kind of story I can safely ignore and carry on with my day without having to care about what is happening to my tax money or which section of the population is being denied services again.

    In any case, I hope the truth comes out and justice is served appropriately.

  • Alan Salmon says:

    This really is so disappointing. Just when the ANC has mud all over them, and a coherent opposition party could take advantage, we have subterfuge and infighting in the DA. Herman Mashaba must be delighted.

  • Rodney Weidemann says:

    All I can say is that for a party that not only wants, but desperately needs, to be seen as multiracial in order to appeal to the broadest set of voters possible, the DA continuously haemorrhages senior non-white leaders, yet consistently finds a place for the one person who regularly damages the party through ill conceived and reckless tweets….I certainly hope Mashaba’s People’s Dialogue can morph into something worth voting for, because I cannot in good conscience vote for this lot anymore (and the thieves at Lootuli House will obviously never get my X either, nor will the bank robbers who claim to be the defenders of the poor)…

  • Cape Flats says:

    Funny how all the DA’s woes turn into a ‘whataboutism’ of the ANC? How comforting that the DA tweeting-royalty never have to appear before a disciplinary. Bazinga! Rebecca Davis is spot on: the heart of it is that the DA is unable to face and deal with the racism and privilege that informs its “classic liberal” positions.

  • Colleen Dardagan says:

    I have to question why Moodey thinks it’s okay to post a statement on Facebook? Surely that is not the appropriate place to try and clear yourself of wrongdoing. This whole thing stinks actually.

  • Geoff Krige says:

    It is scary how few ethical politicians we seem to have in South Africa (or the world for that matter). DA, EFF, ANC, etc, etc all have a high proportion of significantly compromised leaders, and all have an inordinately high time and energy expenditure on internal interpersonal struggles. How exciting it would be to have all these resources actually applied to solving national problems.

Please peer review 3 community comments before your comment can be posted

X

This article is free to read.

Sign up for free or sign in to continue reading.

Unlike our competitors, we don’t force you to pay to read the news but we do need your email address to make your experience better.


Nearly there! Create a password to finish signing up with us:

Please enter your password or get a sign in link if you’ve forgotten

Open Sesame! Thanks for signing up.

We would like our readers to start paying for Daily Maverick...

…but we are not going to force you to. Over 10 million users come to us each month for the news. We have not put it behind a paywall because the truth should not be a luxury.

Instead we ask our readers who can afford to contribute, even a small amount each month, to do so.

If you appreciate it and want to see us keep going then please consider contributing whatever you can.

Support Daily Maverick→
Payment options

Become a Maverick Insider

This could have been a paywall

On another site this would have been a paywall. Maverick Insider keeps our content free for all.

Become an Insider

Every seed of hope will one day sprout.

South African citizens throughout the country are standing up for our human rights. Stay informed, connected and inspired by our weekly FREE Maverick Citizen newsletter.