Nomafrench Mbombo in running for interim DA federal chair role

Former domestic worker Nomafrench Mbombo, who first achieved professor level in the academic world before working herself up to the highest echelons of the DA and the Western Cape government, says she is ready for more responsibility.

The Mdantsane-born DA Women’s Network (Dawn) federal leader and Western Cape health MEC is vying for the DA federal chair interim position.

She will have to convince the majority of voting delegates to place their faith in her on November 17 instead of in BCM DA caucus chief whip Dharmesh Dhaya, DA Western Cape MPL Ivan Meyer or Gauteng MPL Khume Ramulifho.

The vacancy was created when Athol Trollip quit alongside former leader Mmusi Maimane in October.

The Gugulethu and Nyanga DA constituency leader said she was persuaded by Dawn members to contest the powerful position.

The DA federal chair’s main responsibility is to develop the party’s policy, and Mbombo's burning aim is to simplify the party's policies so that they are clear enough for all members to understand.

With “Leaving No-One Behind” as her campaign slogan, the academic-turned-politician said if given the nod this was exactly what she would do.

“Policy development has left some people behind," she said, adding that ordinary DA members sometimes asked why the party was not doing what other parties such as the ANC and EFF were doing.

She said non-racial policies that would redress the injustices of the past were essential.

“I’m a township girl but with my criss-crossing in all of the farming communities in the Western Cape, you still find that many have been left behind.”

Mbombo  said it was crucial that the playing fields were levelled, with women getting the same opportunities as their male counterparts.

“I’ve come across some women who are tenderpreneurs but you find that in order for them to get a tender, it’s about sex-for-tender and sex-for-jobs, so I’m coming with a different attribute based on my experience as a gender activist, a human rights activist and a person in government, as well as from an academic perspective,” she said.

“I’m coming from the basement and I’m also coming as a skyscraper,” she laughed.

“Being a professor and being a township girl gives me an understanding of people’s experiences without dismissing them.”