Political appointees are not necessarily inferior, but it’s one thing marketing a country and quite another promoting its administration, says Peter Fabricius.
Pretoria - How seriously does President Jacob Zuma take the profession of diplomacy? Or, put differently, how seriously does he take our foreign relations?
One rough measure is the number of political appointees, rather than career diplomats, who are made ambassadors.
Although precise figures are hard to calculate, it’s evident that South Africa has more politically appointed ambassadors than ever before – more than 75 percent according to one account.
Political appointees are not necessarily inferior to career diplomats, but it depends on why they are appointed. If they are hand-picked to boost relations with key allies, that’s one thing. But if they are unceremoniously dumped off-shore because they have become either embarrassing, inconvenient or threatening back home, that is another.
The reported axing last year of three top intelligence officials – Dennis Dlomo, Simon Jabulani Ntombela and Nozuko Bam – and their “redeployment” to the Department of International Relations and Co-operation, clearly fall in the latter category, as have others.
Consistent with the shifting thrust of foreign policy, the level of political appointees to major Western postings seems to have been downgraded.
Ebrahim Rasool, who has just concluded four-and-a-half years as ambassador to the US, was certainly a political appointee – he left South Africa under suspicion of having, as Western Cape premier, allegedly given “brown envelopes” to journalists of this newspaper group to ensure favourable coverage.
Nonetheless, he is a bright and sophisticated operator and widely deemed to have done a pretty good job of advancing South Africa’s interests in Washington. Certainly, the US government spoke highly of him, as did the Washington press corps – not easy to please.
Before he left, the National Press Club honoured him with an unusual lifetime achievement award to recognise not only the “close ties” Rasool had forged with the club but also his “positive impact in Washington” as a diplomat and as a “Muslim scholar who has reached out to other communities”.
He has now been replaced, though, by Mninwa Mahlangu, former chair of the National Council of Provinces, who cut his teeth as an MP in the Lebowa homeland parliament, not an illustrious academy.
“Mahlangu has a tough act to follow. Seems an odd choice, but maybe he has hidden depths,” one fellow-diplomat remarked, somewhat sardonically.
To another key Western post, London, Zuma appointed Durban mayor Obed Mlaba to replace Zola Skweyiya, a former cabinet minister and struggle stalwart. Both appointments suggested to some diplomatic observers that Zuma was downgrading relations with the West.
There’s also been a big shake-up at Brand South Africa, the government’s marketing arm, which acts in part as a para-diplomatic corps.
Chief executive Miller Matola is evidently on his way out – his contract is not being renewed at the end of March, we hear. Chief marketing officer Wendy Tlou is quitting after barely a year in the job.
The head of corporate services left suddenly in November.
Two former veteran journalists – Simon Barber in Washington and John Battersby in London – were let go last year. It’s not clear if that was because the government thought they had simply been at their posts too long, or because they had made it clear in recent newspaper interviews that they saw themselves as defending South Africa rather than the Zuma administration (Nkandla, Guptagate, the arms deal allegations, and so on) abroad. But both seemed to be doing pretty good jobs.
Barber’s replacement is Mudunwazi Baloyi, who has been through many government jobs, and is apparently being installed in a Manhattan office and house with his wife and four children, at a time when the Treasury is urging restraint.
Battersby has been replaced by a deputy director general in the Department of Economic Development.
Whether the overall shake-up at Brand South Africa also has to do with a perception that it was marketing South Africa rather than the current administration, may only emerge if and when Matola is replaced.
* Peter Fabricius is Independent Media’s foreign editor.