New deputy foreign minister Sue van der Merwe's maiden speech on the international stage had the media in a flurry over her perceived anti-American comments.
Addressing the Non-Aligned Movement ministerial summit in Durban, she emphasised the need to fight unilateralism. But the media seized upon her comments as an attack on the United States.
Ironically Van der Merwe, 50, cut her diplomatic teeth at the feet of her mother, an American diplomat who met her cleric father while posted in South Africa. She denies attacking the US.
"I was addressing a multilateral forum and I talked in that context about unilateralism," she explained, clearly amused about the brouhaha. "I did not say one word about the US, but everybody interpreted it that way."
She does, however, acknowledge that the "not-so-veiled" comments were aimed at unilateral action, such as America's invasion of Iraq.
Van der Merwe has just returned from her first official foreign trip, to an Indian Ocean Rim meeting in Sri Lanka, although her brief is mainly "to keep the home fires of foreign affairs burning", while her two colleagues traverse the world.
She is getting ready to be the diplomatic spearhead of the host government when the first sitting of the Pan-African Parliament takes place in Gauteng in less than a fortnight.
Four months after her unexpected appointment as a second deputy minister of foreign affairs, she is hooked: "I was in deep shock actually," said said of the promotion.
"But I'm really enjoying this job, I must admit! It is very exciting. It's not work that I've done before but I've always been fascinated by international affairs."
She admits that some of the aptitude for foreign climes and travel comes from her mother, Betty-Ann Young, who settled with Van der Merwe's father in South Africa.
"To grow up in Port Elizabeth with an American mother was quite unusual, you know."
Van der Merwe was appointed to the post after four years as President Thabo Mbeki's parliamentary counsellor.
"The president would like me not to travel and if I do, not very often. The idea is that there is such a lot going on here, with one of the largest diplomatic communities in the world. It's a bit schizophrenic actually when you look at your week and you see how many continents you are going to be touching, from the Rwandan bi-national to the Joint Commission from China."
More than 130 countries are represented in South Africa and Van der Merwe now finds most of her evenings in Pretoria taken up by national day and other events at embassies.
"It is one of the disadvantages of being a friendly nation."
Her time is further taken up by the exponentially growing department, with its increasing foreign missions.
Although home based, Van der Merwe needs to be in the loop on all international developments.
After matric, Van der Merwe spent a year as an American Field Service student and graduated with a BA at the University of Cape Town, where she met her late husband, Tiaan van der Merwe, a prominent opposition politician who died in a car crash. They both were involved in the Progressive Federal Party.
During the turbulent 1980s she worked as the co-ordinator of the Black Sash Advice Office in Cape Town and held a number of other civil society positions and was surprised to find herself called to parliament in 1996 by the ANC.
She served as a member of the finance and intelligence committees, soon became a whip, and in 2000 was appointed to Mbeki's office.
What makes her new life easier is that her two children are at university, which leaves her free to travel between Cape Town and Pretoria.
Van der Merwe is excited about the Pan-African Parliament.
"I think we can only benefit from a democratic institution like that, with a vibrant approach to women, to solving problems. In two years we've made progress that the European Union was not able to do in 25 years, to agree on having a parliament, setting up all the mechanisms, and to start. I'm optimistic about it."
Admitting that it won't be plain sailing for a while, she is looking forward to the sharing of experiences from all corners of the continent.
Whether it will develop real oversight teeth, Van der Merwe said will depend on all the countries "the will and the leadership".
"I do think the direction is positive," she said. "The African Union and Nepad (New Partnership for Africa's Development) are already showing results. Africa is on the world agenda, which is an achievement in itself. Importantly, the partnership between us and the developed world is on a level where it has never been. There's not a begging bowl scenario any more."
On her perceived criticism of the US, she insists that despite perceptions, South Africa has an "extremely good relationship with the US".
After her baptism of fire she is still easy to talk to, warm and funny, but the barriers of diplomacy have set in.
Attempts to get her to lift the veil on controversial aspects of foreign affairs like "quiet diplomacy" in Zimbabwe proved fruitless. Confronted with that, she laughs: "Good. I'm learning."