The alternative view — being on the ‘right side of history’ — would have led to joining the US-led invasion of Iraq
SA’s response to the Ukraine war, especially statements by the foreign affairs ministry and the presidency, has brought our foreign policy sharply into the limelight.
SA’s foreign policy is shaped by three centres: Luthuli House, the Union Buildings and the OR Tambo Building, headquarters of the department of international relations and cooperation. Three decades of democratic history have shown that a president gets the foreign minister he deserves: think of the cerebral and Africa-centric duo of Thabo Mbeki and Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, or the less-endowed combo of Jacob Zuma and Maite Nkoana-Mashabane.
However, a third element has been missing — sheer, dogged attention to management and organisational capacity, which characterised foreign affairs in the Mbeki era. Dangor has already made a name for himself not only as a good public manager but as a morally driven one, having testified against his boss, Bathabile Dlamini, when he was director-general in the social development department, at an inquiry into her role in the 2017 social grant crisis.
This will mean being guided by the mantra of “fewer, but better”, when we cut our diplomatic suit according to the cloth of available funding. There is a crying need for SA to reduce its overseas missions and improve the quality of their work by retaining its experienced upper echelons at home.
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