A couple of weeks ago, intrigued by a LinkedIn post from Barbara Joe, I read an article in the New Yorker about former Panamanian ambassador John Feeley who resigned over moral differences with President Trump. In addition to being impressed by what an interesting and inspiring person Feeley is (definitely worth the read!), I was struck by parallel concerns with South Africa.
South Africa is at a critical juncture in its post-apartheid history, with media, protests, and politicians finally confronting the corruption that has sadly come to dominate the ANC-led government. Interim president Cyril Ramaphosa has committed to cleaning up corruption in government and parastatals, and in his first 100 days in office he has taken significant steps to do so. Heading into 2019 national elections, South Africa is in a tensely balanced moment of anger and hope, desperation and mobilization.
The recent announcement that the US may punish UN countries including South Africa that don't vote sufficiently often with the US—by potentially denying tariff exemptions—threatens to thwart efforts toward socio-economic change. In these times especially, ambassadorships are arguably critical.
For three years (2013-16) the US had an extraordinary ambassador to South Africa. Patrick Gaspard is a Haitian-American, born in Congo. As a teenager growing up in New York Gaspard became an anti-apartheid activist. In the first term of the Obama administration, he was Director of the White House Office of Political Affairs. In Obama’s second term, Gaspard served as US Ambassador to South Africa for three years. Then Donald Trump fired all ambassadors who had been appointed by Obama.
After Gaspard left the office of ambassador nearly a year ago, Anthony Carroll was seen as a possible successor; Carroll has decades of experience working in southern Africa to support trade and economic development, and strong South African support. But his anticipated appointment never happened.
Today, the US still has no ambassador to South Africa. We have something called a chargée d’affaires in the person of Jessye Lapenn (I put the additional e in her title because, well, it’s her title although 1) I’m aware of a movement to de-gender the French language, and 2) The French would probably not put an extra e in a traditionally-male title). In the colloquial English of diplomacy (if such thing can be said to exist)—the title apparently becomes Charge-D, the technical term for a person who serves as head of the embassy in the absence of an ambassador, which is the current situation here. Jessye Lapenn is the US Charge-D in Pretoria.
After Trump’s disparaging remarks about African countries in January, the South African government issued a démarche (n.) to the Charge-D (gotta love the French influence in diplomatic discourse). According to the Daily Maverick, my favorite source of South African news, a démarche is a “strong form of diplomatic protest as well as an opportunity to seek information.” And démarche can be both a noun and verb, as in “South African Government to Démarche [v.] US Embassy Official.”
Appearing before the Department of International Relations and Cooperation (otherwise known as Dirco), Jessye Lapenn affirmed US respect for South Africa, but did not apologize for damage done by the president’s remarks. This is of course disturbing. But even more disturbing: the US has not replaced Ambassador Gaspard, whom South Africa saw as a true friend and ally, someone committed to the anti-apartheid cause prior to 1994, proactively dedicated to helping post-apartheid South Africa build its economy as well as equitable education and healthcare systems.
The absence of such a US Ambassador seems especially tragic today. The reality has sunk in: while post-apartheid South Africa indeed boasts incredible political and constitutional freedoms, widespread socio-economic transformation and “a better life for all” were not automatic effects of the 1994 elections. Not only that, significant leaders in the ANC — the party that is most intimately associated with the liberation struggle — are perceived as having betrayed people who gave them their faith, their hopes, and their very lives leading up to 1994. With national elections approaching in 2019, the country feels fragile and emotions are raw.
These realizations have fueled new political parties over the past decade such the Economic Freedom Fighters, movements such as #FeesMustFall, calls for “land expropriation without compensation,” and violent protests over the lack of “service delivery” that continue to flare up around the country. At the same time, these movements are tempered by exhortations not to underestimate the complexity of the challenges faced by the ANC negotiators in the early 1990s, and the reasons they made economic compromises for political and constitutional gains.
Nearly 25 years have passed since the first democratic elections; the passage of time has dimmed idealism and sharpened disillusionment, but also — importantly — given South Africans a hopeful new perspective, including the possibility of acknowledging, challenging, and resisting corruption in government that undermines the country’s socio-economic transformation.
Former ambassador Gaspard, now president of the international philanthropy Open Society Foundations, continues to write with eloquence, clarity, and optimism about South Africa. He recently wrote, “Fortunately, there is nothing wrong in South Africa that cannot be fixed by all that is right in South Africa. The country has a deep vein of civic engagement to tap.” Based on my past month in South Africa, I agree.
But it’s a pity that at another critical moment in South African history, the US has no ambassador to champion relations with South Africa as Gaspard did. And sadly, the South Africa situation is not unique: as of February 2018, the Trump administration had not appointed ambassadors to 45 countries around the world with whom the US has diplomatic relations. Time to issue a démarche to President Trump? Or better yet, simply démarche him.
Photo: Goats in a Soweto street (to see photos of former Ambassador Gaspard, follow links above)