2023-12-14 15:52:15
In the Middle East, Foreign Minister Schallenberg and his South African counterpart Pandor played a game of diplomatic ping-pong. But: “I actually like the minister.”
Pretoria. A diplomat should acquire basic knowledge of supposedly exotic topics, even for small talk at a business forum or the opening of a cultural institute – for example, have an idea of what a line-out in rugby is. This may have been what happened to Alexander Schallenberg in Pretoria on the eve of a public holiday that President Cyril Ramaphosa had specifically declared following South Africa’s triumph at the Rugby World Cup in France at the end of October.
The rugby holiday on Friday marks the start of the summer and Christmas holidays on the southern tip of Africa, and two ministers canceled their meetings with the Austrian Foreign Minister at short notice. “This is Africa,” as long-time experts on the continent know. A chief diplomat also has to ignore it with a certain nonchalance when his counterpart, South Africa’s Foreign Minister, Grace Pandor, casually confuses Austria with Australia – a classic slip-up, especially in Anglophone countries in the Global South.
1702570333
#Schallenberg #South #Africa #World #politics #apartheid #lens
