Ngonyama given top envoy post

MONTHS after returning to the ANC, its former national spokesman Smuts Ngonyama is preparing to jet off to Spain to spend the next four years as the South African ambassador to that country.

Ngonyama, his wife and two grandchildren will leave South Africa at the end of this month or next month to begin a journey he hopes will strengthen relations culturally, educationally and economically between the two countries.

Ngonyama, from Uitenhage, was chosen by President Jacob Zuma last August to head up the South African embassy in Spain on the recommendation of International Relations Minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane.

His farewell party, hosted by ANC branches in KwaNobuhle earlier this month, gave rise to criticism by some in the Nelson Mandela Bay ANC who questioned why Ngonyama was being "unfairly rewarded" by the party shortly after returning from COPE, while other members who were always loyal to the party were overlooked.

 - Mkhululi Ndamase