Zille’s plans move forward as Gwen Ngwenya returns as DA policy head

Reports that the Democratic Alliance’s (DA’s) federal council did not agree with Helen Zille’s national management committee-approved (NMC) plans to rehire Gwen Ngwenya have just been rubbished as Ngwenya reported for duty on Monday morning.

Ngwenya disagreed with the direction the party was taking under then leader Mmusi Maimane in supporting policies that seemed similar to the ANC’s black economic empowerment ideas.

According to reports, journalist Samkele Maseko alleged on Twitter that Ngwenya would not be reporting for duty as head of policy on Monday morning after the DA’s federal council disagreed with Zille’s plans to hire her in a meeting held two weeks ago.

Zille, however, denied this in a tweet response to Maseko’s allegations.

No such resolution was taken at either FedEx or Federal Council. Pls don't invent news.

— Helen Zille (@helenzille) November 17, 2019

“No such resolution was taken at either FedEx or Federal Council,” she said. “Pls don’t invent news.”

Previous News24 reports also asserted that Zille’s decision to reinstate Ngwenya was met with resistance.

All that is moot now as Ngwenya began her role as the DA’s head of policy on Monday and will reportedly be preparing the DA for its April policy conference, according to a report published by Sowetan. A position she stepped down from in January 2019 – a month before the party was expected to unveil its 2019 election manifesto.

“[I’m] excited to just get on with the job. Where we govern, we govern well. But we also need to be able to coherently communicate the party policies, which form the foundation of those successes. And that will inform our success as a national government in the future,” Ngwenya told the publication.

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