A week after being axed, Whitfield keeping busy with DA work in EC, reveals Harvard study opportunity
Andrew Whitfield was, however, quick to point out that he doesn’t plan on quitting his political career for international study.
FILE: Former deputy minister of trade, industry & competition, Andrew Whitfield. Picture: @the_dtic/X
CAPE TOWN - A week after being fired as a deputy minister of trade, industry and competition, Andrew Whitfield is getting on with party work in the Eastern Cape in another attempt by the Democratic Alliance (DA) to take control of Nelson Mandela Bay.
He also announced on Thursday that he’d been given another shot to study at Harvard University, after the president turned down his request earlier in 2025 to travel to the campus for a course.
Whitfield was, however, quick to point out that he doesn’t plan on quitting his political career for international study.
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Four months after Whitfield travelled to the United States (US) on party business without the president’s permission, the axe fell on him last week, just as political parties gathered to pass a key money bill in the National Assembly.
Following that illegal trip, Whitfield said the president refused for him to travel to the US again at the end of April, at his own cost, for a funded, week-long course at Harvard University.
Whitfield said he never got a response as to why the study request was refused, despite him apologising for making the earlier trip without the president’s permission.
On Thursday, Whitfield announced that he’d been admitted to the university’s Kennedy School of Government to participate in a ten-week, virtual, economic growth programme, that starts in September.
"I’m still an MP; I’m still the leader of the DA in the Eastern Cape. We are working hard this side on Nelson Mandela Bay, among other municipalities. And then, of course, to develop and capacitate myself should I be able to utilise those skills in government one day, would be wonderful."
Whitfield said he would be returning to Parliament next week; however, it’s still unclear in which portfolio he will serve.
In the sixth Parliament, he was the DA’s shadow minister of police.
The party has also linked his axing to his fierce oversight of key matters within the trade and industry department.