Dangor off to the US to lift spirits of SA embassy staff

Department of International Relations and Cooperation (Dir-co) director-general (DG) Zane Dangor landed in the US on Friday on a trip to boost the morale of staff at the embassy which allegedly hit its lowest ebb after the expulsion of Ebrahim Rasool.

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As part of his trip, Dangor will also brief the United Nations General Assembly, focusing on the strategies and priorities of South Africa’s G20 presidency.

“Thereafter, as DG, he will engage with the G20 sherpas from the US and Brazil.

“So, it’s a troika meeting of the G20 in Washington. Then the engagement with staff is likely to take place,” Lamola’s spokesperson, Chrispin Phiri, told Sunday World.

A sherpa is the personal representative of a head of state or head of government preparing for the international summit, and between summits there are multiple sherpa conferences where possible agreements are laid out.

Informally, according to government insiders, Dangor will also read the temperature on the ground in the US to establish what the expectations of the local authorities are in terms of the appointment of the new ambassador.

A source said the prospective candidate should either be a male Afrikaner or a South African of Jewish descent. Rasool is due back in the country in the coming week, and all eyes are on President Cyril Ramaphosa to make an announcement on his replacement, pending consultation with Lamola and informally with his colleagues in the ANC.