DM Ganief Hendricks

He ensured that the party set up rural projects such as the one in Mpame Village (Eastern Cape) and the Peanut Butter Factory (Groutville, KZN). Recently, he serviced Eastern Cape’s Cofimvaba ensuring that it was given attention by the Ministry of social Development.

Apart from these areas of interest, Hendricks also addressed the needs of the urban communities in Cape Town where he made sure that the party was a SEDA facilitator for the communities in the small business sector. As a result of these, Hendricks and party members made the necessary inroads and created opportunities for individuals/groups to undertake small business projects to empower themselves.

On the 1st July 2024, Al Jama-ah’s President Hon Hendricks was appointed as Deputy Minister of Social Development. Since Hendricks’ appointment in this post, he has extended the vision by wanting to ensure that positive changes take place in different sectors especially those that fall under his ‘delegation of responsibilities;’ a delegation that was given to him by the Minister of Social Development and they are: substance abuse, HIV/Aids, the Elderly, the Disabled, and the Families and Parenting. It should be mentioned that Hendricks’ aims are to make sure that he – with his team in the Ministry of Social Development – will achieve the goal ofnotjust eradicating food poverty in SouthAfrica but that the countryattains ‘zero hunger.’

The Party

It should be stated that Hon Hendricks is the Amir/President of the only political party that has adopted policies and practices that are in line with Islamic values; one ofthese is embracing all communities and leaving no one behind.

From the time, the party was formed in 2007 it has grown numerically and has members in different parts of the country; its headquarters is based in Cape Town where it started. Despite having struggled with little or no funding, it succeeded to sustain itself and remain on course since then. Hendricks, like his great-grandfather Hajj Ozer Ally who was instrumental in giving the African National Congress its name, never gave up and strove hard to ensure that the party continued to serve.

As a result of hard work, it is represented by twelve councillors (in Western Cape, Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, and Northwest Province), one Member of the Provincial Legislature in the Western Cape, and two Members of Parliament in the NationalAssembly. During the past five years, two of its councillors served as Executive Mayors in the City of Johannesburg. All of these indicate that the party has emerged as a trusted party in the politicalarena. The ANC sees it is as a confidant and a trusted ally whenever it needed support for its decisions and bills.

The Party and GNU

Since the party has joined the Government of National Unity (GNU), Hendricks presently forms part often person GNU ‘Leaders’Forum.’Let it be publicly stated that Hon Hendricks is the only Muslim member of the Cabinet Executive. Since he is a practicing Muslim who strongly advocates and adheres to Muslim values, the South African government has approached him to introduce its various ministries to potential investors from the Muslim world; among them are investors from Qatar.

Being armed with that, Hendricks has been undertaking these tasks to assist the government to obtain funding for its variety of socio-economic projects and programmes. From among the Ministers who reached out to Hendricks was the Minister ofWater and sanitation, namely Hon Pemmy Caroline Majodina.

The Hon. Minister is seeking funds to build dams and other related structures. She wants financial injection and participation that backed are by the fiscus; one that will give guarantees for the constructing of three dams and water projects. The latter will amount to about one million US dollars; the biggest dam being 80 meters high and supplying a million households and with the cost at about 400 000 US dollars. This particular dam is being fully supported with financial instruments given by the government’s treasury.