John Clifford Moodey (born 22 November 1958) is a South African politician who served as the Provincial Leader of the Democratic Alliance (DA) in Gauteng from 2007 to 2010 and from 2012 to 2020. Moodey was a Member of the

Gauteng Provincial Legislature The Gauteng Provincial Legislature is the legislature of the South African province of Gauteng. It is a unicameral body of 73 members elected every five years. The current legislature, the sixth, was elected on 8 May 2019 and has an African N ...

from 2004 to 2020 and served as Leader of the Opposition from 2014 to 2019. He was the party's Shadow MEC for Community Safety.

Early life

John Clifford Moodey was born on 22 November 1958 in Doornfontein, a suburb of Johannesburg. He and his family were later evicted and forced to move due to the Group Areas Act. He became an activist while he was still in school.

Political career

Moodey was previously a trade unionist and served on the executive of the Combined Employers Union. He joined the Democratic Party in 1998, which became the Democratic Alliance in 2000. He was elected to the

Johannesburg City Council Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a megacity, and is one of the 100 largest urban areas in the world. According to Dem ...

in 2000 as the ward councillor for Florida. He became chairperson of the DA caucus in 2001 and soon deputy chairperson of the party in Gauteng South in 2002. He became Provincial Chairperson of the DA in 2004. In the same year, he was appointed a Member of the

. He was elected Provincial Leader of the party in 2007, succeeding Ian Davidson to become the party's first black leader in Gauteng. At the DA's October 2009 provincial conference, in a bid to secure re-election, Moodey's campaign sent out SMS's displaying false information. The provincial conference was nullified and disciplinary steps were taken against Moodey. A second provincial conference was promptly called for and held in April 2010, in which former DA MP

Janet Semple Janet Audrey Semple (born 29 March 1955) is a retired South African politician who served as a Member of the Gauteng Provincial Legislature for the Democratic Alliance (DA) from 2010 to 2019. She was the Provincial Leader of the DA in Gauteng fr ...

defeated Moodey by just 8 votes. In January 2012, Semple announced her retirement as the provincial leader. Moodey declared his intention to contest the position at the party's conference in March. He was endorsed by Semple and DA Federal Youth Leader Makashule Gana. Moodey defeated MP Ian Ollis. In November 2014, Moodey was re-elected for another term after he defeated MPL Refiloe Nt'sekhe. He secured another term in November 2017 after he defeated Ghaleb Cachalia. In February 2020, Moodey announced that he would be retiring as provincial leader ahead of the party's upcoming provincial conference to be held later on in the year. On 24 February 2020, he announced that he would run for DA Federal Leader at the party's Federal Congress, which was scheduled to be held in May. The elective conference was postponed to October 2020 due to the coronavirus outbreak and Moodey temporarily suspended all campaign activities. On 2 September 2020, Moodey resigned from the Democratic Alliance, citing race and an internal disciplinary proceeding. He joined Herman Mashaba's ActionSA in October.

Personal life

Moodey is married to Barenice. They have children and grandchildren. They reside in

Florida, Gauteng Florida is a location in Gauteng province, South Africa. It is located about 16 kilometres west of Johannesburg. The area which is referred to as Florida was originally established as the farm ''Vogelstruisfontein''. Today, it is a suburb of Roo ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Moodey, John Living people 1958 births People from Johannesburg People from Gauteng South African politicians Democratic Alliance (South Africa) politicians Members of the Gauteng Provincial Legislature Coloured South African people ActionSA politicians