Issued by: Department of Foreign Affairs
12 December 2001
The Department of Foreign Affairs is set to make a recommendation for consideration to be made to honour those returning heads of mission who have performed to the best of their abilities in the service of the people and our country abroad.
At the centre of this proposal would be the awarding of certificates to the best performing heads of mission. In pursuance of this objective and in preparation of such a function, the Director-General, Sipho Pityana will be hosting a dinner, today, Wednesday 12 December at the Sheraton Hotel Pretoria.
Among those to be honoured are: Raymond Mhlaba-Uganda; Daline De Villiers Steenkamp-Hong Kong; Chris Dlamini-China; Jan Castelyn-Sao Paulo; Tom Wheeler- Turkey; Hannes Spies-Korea; Cheryl Carolus-United Kingdom; Raymond Suttner-Sweden; Davie Jacobs – Athens; Aubrey Nkomo - Argentina.
As we near the end of the year, we are encouraged that the majority of our missions have made major strides in improving upon their performance in pursuit of our foreign policy objectives with the assistance of Headquarters and the Management Consultancy Unit (MCU)
This comes in the wake of ongoing efforts aimed at the fundamental transformation of DFA to reflect the demographics of South African society. This process has received a major boost with the recent appointments of 109 professional and career diplomats to our various missions, ratified by the Director-General of Foreign Affairs.
We reiterate our view that these appointments have been done taking into account employment equity targets of the department and affirmative action policy and without prejudice. In this regard, new ambassadors will be appointed in the beginning of the New Year.
The DFA congratulates those thus appointed in this context and expresses its confidence that these appointees have both the capacity and the will to add to the momentum of deepening and consolidating bilateral and multilateral relations between our country and the rest of the world.
Since 1994 a new foreign policy cadre committed to the ideals, norms and values of our constitution and the objective of our department have been appointed to all our missions. This trend will continue with even greater emphasis and bias towards our continent of Africa and in pursuance of our strategic objective of the African Renaissance.
While a firm foundation has been laid in advancing our national interests and values abroad, this was not without weaknesses. In this regard, a few instances that require disciplinary action to be taken have arisen. Yet we reaffirm the principle that those facing such allegations must be presumed innocent until proven guilty. We reiterate our view that disciplinary action cannot and will never be used to settle political scores but are rather aimed at corrective measures and building a solid new cadre of our foreign policy with high standards of behaviour, conduct and discipline.
The Department of Foreign Affairs is proud to announce that of all the 92 Heads of Mission abroad, only one has disciplinary action pending against him, while cases against the other two are still to be considered on appeal. Since these matters are still pending, DFA views these issues as both internal and sub judice at this stage.
Consequently, DFA is not at liberty to divulge the particulars of the individuals concerned or specifics of charges they may have faced. As soon as these processes have been finalised, the Department, may decide to make these decisions available to the public. DFA has embarked upon a process aimed at expediting these processes with a view to avoiding any disruption to the work of the missions abroad.
We must emphasise, in this context, that all Heads of Mission irrespective of the nature of their appointments i.e political or career diplomats are all subject to the disciplinary code and procedures for the Public Service.
As millions of our people throughout the country prepare for the festive period and an end of Ramadaan, the Minister Dr. Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma and myself wish to take this opportunity to extend our seasonal greetings to all our Heads of Missions and staff abroad and wish them a prosperous and fulfilling New Year.
For further information, please contact Ronnie Mamoepa on 082 990 4853