Dietrichsen is one of that dwindling band of diplomats who represented both the apartheid regime and South Africa’s new democracy led by President Nelson Mandela.

His memoir contains gems of a unique history that includes the complex and often exasperating transition between the two.

Dietrichsen writes in a detailed, discursive manner that reminds one of the procedural style adopted by writers of the increasingly popular Nordic Noir genre.

Presumably he owes this either to the kilometers of diplomatic drafts he was required to write in a 35 year career in the foreign service or to his Danish heritage, which explains the puzzling title of the book.

Full disclosure, I did military service with the author in D company of the Army Gymnasium in 1967.

He went on to graduate from the Military Academy in Saldhana Bay. He hung up is uniform in 1972 to join the foreign service.

Over the years, we met up a receptions and foreign affairs events – he as a diplomat and public servant, me as a journalist.

This book puts meat on the bones of what I learned about his rather stellar career.

More importantly, it is a concise and well constructed history of the demise of apartheid and the birth of South Africa’s democracy.

Apart from experiences abroad, he played a role driving the rapprochement with neighbouring Mozambique through the Nkomati Accord; in the eventual inauguration of Nelson Mandela as president; and in the formation of the diverse new Department of International Relations.

The book  is elaborately  embroidered with his personal experiences and family tales. 

His three daughters, who have personally distinguished themselves thanks to or perhaps despite his unsettled diplomatic wanderings, add a colourful tailpiece to the book.

They were clearly inspired by their father’s sense of curiosity and adventure and took full advantage of the opportunities provided by his peripatetic lifestyle.

Dietrichsen overcame the disappointment at being pushed aside to make way for an “affirmative” appointment , having been named as ambassador to Indonesia and received agrement  from the host government.

He went on to become ambassador to Switzerland  Liechtenstein  and Ireland.

He left the department in 2007 to accompany his wife on her posting to Hanoi. 

Never one to put up his feet, he has embarked on an academic career training the leaders of tomorrow.

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President Cyril Ramaphosa calls this a mark of respect for a predecessor.

A State memorial service for de Klerk will be held a date to be determined.

The former president’s family has opted to have the 86-year-old cremated after a small funeral service for family on Sunday.

It is a wise decision given the mixed feelings expressed since de Klerk died of lung cancer last Thursday.

There are those who say he does not deserve any honour because of his active involvement in the apartheid system.

His unqualified apology,  recorded near his demise, to those hurt by apartheid would indicate that he was regretful about this.

His critics say he released Nelson Mandela and other political prisoners and unbanned the African National Congress and other political parties because he had to.

No-one has suggested that de Klerk acted altruistically at the time.

He realised, as previous leaders of the National Party must have done, that the system was untenable.

By the time he took the helm of the ruling party, the Soviet empire had fallen and the game was up for the apartheid system that was only allowed to survive as a Cold War bastion against Soviet imperialism at the foot of Africa.

In short, his was a classic piece of pragmatism.

If one is to castigate a politician for pragmatism, there would be virtually no public representatives – proud exponents of the art of the possible – left to admire.

De Klerk’s move was indisputably a courageous one. It spelled the end for himself as leader and his party as the instance of power.

Happily, this was realized by leaders at home and abroad. 

It was why he got to share the Nobel Peace Prize with Nelson Mandela.

That the overwhelming majority of black South Africans retain a sense of suspicion, not to say bitterness, is hardly surprising.

Where would one hear open appreciation of any system universally and rightly denounced as a crime against humanity?

However De Klerk’s role in dealing a fatal blow to that system is self evident.

The ANC is right: “De Klerk’s legacy is a big one. It is also an uneven one, something South Africans are called to reckon with at this moment.”

The sooner we get around to this, the better we will be able to move on.

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Yes, his becoming the 46th President is probably the salvation of US democracy.

More importantly the departure of the most divisive president in American history allows us to return to what we prefer to be.  Donald Trump’s hate-filled, nasty four years left us with a quotidian search for spiteful things to say about him.

I did not like what being in such a toxic relationship did to me.

Growing up under apartheid, we were driven to attaching expletives to every characterisation of institutionalised racism.

It seemed to be the most effective way of expressing our outrage.

The late Nelson Mandela explained it for me.

In one of our conversations during filming his retirement film, he recalled how former US President George W Bush asked what he would like to drink.

“I told him, Cuban rum,” said Madiba.

“Sometimes you have to say things people don’t want to hear.”

No danger of this happening with Donald Trump. He doesn’t listen to anybody else.

Nevertheless it would have been a delight to see the former South African President put him in his place.

So now we have Joe Biden leading a crusade to return decency and normality to the nation leading the free world.

No more tolerance of official hate-speech, racism, sexism, religious bigotry or homophobia.

I don’t mean to add to the President-elect’s burden, but shouldn’t ageism become equally taboo.

I venture to say, this won’t happen until the grey panthers become as militant as the group’s fighting the aforementioned evils.

I was speaking to a recently-retired friend last week who told me how being pensioned off left her deeply depressed.

“But we have to make room for the next group,” said this woman who is still physically and professionally in the pink.

It brought to mind a Saudi Arabian professional woman some years ago trying to justify the ban on female drivers and other chauvinistic behaviours as an attempt by authorities to ensure the security of woman.

I am sure she would be mortified if I reminded her of this.

I have been around long enough to remember the apartheid regime sending articulate black collaborators abroad to explain why South Africa was not ready for majority rule.

Offensive? Intolerable? Certainly.

Why then accept references to Joe Biden as the oldest American President in history as though it were something bad?

Do I need to use an expletive to make my point?

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He and eight other Ogoni activists were hanged after a secret military tribunal found them guilty of the murder of four Ogoni chiefs by a mob.

The execution was directed by Nigeria’s then military ruler Sani Abacha.

Britain’s Prime Minister in 1995 John Major called it judicial murder and considered punitive measures with his then US counterpart Bill Clinton. 

South Africa’s recently elected President Nelson Mandela denounced Abacha as “an insensitive  frightened dictator  who used a kangaroo court to execute innocent men.”

Mandatory action by the United Nations Security Council was ruled out because of the danger of it being blocked by China and Russia.

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If any rock maestro was given to understatement, it was Johnny Clegg.

Embarking on his Final Journey Tour last year, when he knew he was dying, he said: “Pancreatic cancer is lethal. There is no way out of it.”

Then he resorted to his beloved Isi Zulu to use the idiomatic saying that everyone must eat what is in his bowl.

It is, therefore, left to us to say that Johnny Clegg is the biggest thing to happen to South African music in the last half century.

Born in Britain and raised in Zimbabwe – then Rhodesia – he came to Johannesburg where he met a Zulu cleaner named Charlie Mzila who spurred his interest in the music and dance of that bellicose and dominant tribe.

As a teenager he hung out in  the haunts of migrant labourers: their dangerous hostels and fiery illegal taverns known as shebeens.

It is difficult to overstate the radical, not to forget highly illegal, nature of this behavior.

Clegg was often arrested for breaching apartheid South Africa’s Group Areas Act which dictated to people where they were allowed to be. And that was strictly with people of their own race.

Clegg studied anthropology at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg and at the University of Natal in Durban.

Not only was he addicted to the maskandi music of the people, he was fascinated with what made them tick.

In 1969 he met Sipho Mahunu who recognized and encouraged his passion and talent. 

They were the backbone of the group Jaluka which recorded numbers like Africa Sky Blue and Great Heart.

In the eighties, Mahunu returned to his farm and Clegg took up with Savuka, continuing to write and perform hits that thrilled South Africans both black and white.

This crossover culture flew in the face of the then government’s policy of separation.

The apartheid bosses were particularly angered by Clegg’s song Asimbonanga – literally “ we have not seen him” – that dreamed of performing onstage with the still jailed Nelson Mandela.

The song names Steve Biko and other anti-apartheid fighters killed by the regime.

The authorities had a fine understanding of how far they could stretch their oppression of high-profile figures.

Johnny Clegg had become a touring star in France, where he was called Le Zulu Blanc, Britain, the United States, Canada, Germany and the Scandanavian countries.

This made him untouchable to the Pretoria heavies – just like critical Afrikaans writers of the time and  Church-sponsored educators determined to run mixed private schools.

Foreign governments took the lead from their music-fan citizens and bestowed honours on  Clegg: the Legion d’Honneur from France and Britain’s OBE.

Clegg seemed to triumph over chronology by persistently touring and leaping around the stage with microphone, guitar and township concertina.

He sang about the injustices of apartheid but the lasting value  of his songs celebrates the land and beauty of a South Africa open to everyone.

His courage and activism were above question. Like many South Africans he was disappointed at the so-called Rainbow Nation failing to live up to its promises. 

However, he  avoided the cut and thrust of the party political arena to express this.

Johnny Clegg liked to say he was taught patience by Nelson Mandela, the man he fantasised about performing with.

That dream came true when Mandela walked on stage during his concert in Frankfurt in 1999 and did his trademark jive to Asimbonaga. 

“I realize that the new South Africa cannot be perfect,” Clegg would say. “It could take as long as 40 years to flourish and become truly democratic.

“We must be patient if we want to see a flowering future.” 

Clegg’s son Jessie has followed in his father’s musical footsteps and the two have performed together many times.

The maestro says he is enormously proud of his son but insists he has not interfered in his career.

Radio stations in South Africa have been playing Clegg’s music non stop since news of his death  on Tuesday afternoon, surrounded by his family.

It is almost as though they are delaying saying goodbye to the legend.

One comfort is we will always have his music and his inspiration

Lala kahle – rest in peace – Johnny Clegg 

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In those heady, early days of democracy South Africa was often said to be punching above its weight diplomatically.

There was not a country that did not want to be the friend of Nelson Mandela’s success story.

Many sought help, hoping that rubbing  up against  it might bring some good fortune.

So, in addition to their considerable domestic commitments Mandela and his early successors were required to be counsellors and mediators.

They were expected to explain how they  achieved the seemingly impossible end of apartheid and the reconciliation that brought about the Rainbow Nation.

Northern Ireland is perhaps the best example of this

Many times, South African leaders were obliged to apply these lessons by actually stepping  in between parties in conflict and brokering a peace.

This applied mainly in Africa where South African mediation achieved settlements in Sudan, Comoros, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Cote d’Ivoire and Lesotho.

The fact that things have lately gone pear-shaped in many of these nations is a debate for another day.

However badly things have fared, they are indubitably better off having  had South African mediation and peacekeeping at a time when the rest of the  world was either unwilling or incapable to intervening.

Thankfully, that is not the case in Sudan today.

The African Union has built the confidence and experience to make its presence felt by red-carding the Transitional Military Council until it hands power to a civilian administration.

The Arab nations are there, albeit misguidedly lending moral support to the military junta in Khartoum until the generals made the fatal error of deploying the former janjaweed against unarmed protestors.

The United States has got involved, sending Tibor Nagy its top envoy to Africa to urge an and to the violence.

It has also named Donald Booth as its special envoy to Sudan – the ninth since 2001.

Not only Washington, but Hollywood has skin in the game through activity actor George Clooney calling on the U.S. Treasury to use its muscle with international banks to dry up the financial stream to the junta in Khartoum and anyone seeking to prolong the conflict in the strategically place country bridging Africa and the Arab worlds.

Look for South Africa in this crowd and you will be disappointed.

Does this mean the days of Mzanzi mediation are over?

Probably not.

President Cyril Ramaphosa has his hands full pulling South Africa out of the economic swamp.

For him it is very much a case of charity beginning at home.

The sad reality is the wasted Zuma years of Zuma corruption has cut the moral high ground from under South Africa’s feet.

That is ironic, because Zuma himself was a good, although tough, mediator.

“Do you really think you can twist a man’s arm behind his back hard enough to  get him to sign a settlement with his free hand?” I asked him in jest after he had brought a reluctant  Pierre Nkurunziza into the Burundi deal.

“What do you think the did to us at Codesa?” he retorted.

ends

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Minister of International Relations Lindiwe Sisulu, receiving  the panel’s report, South Africa must pass on the lessons and values learned from Nelson Mandela.

Former Deputy Foreign Minister Aziz Pahad, who heads the 10-person panel established by Minister of International Relations and Cooperation Lindiwe Sisulu last year says the country prioritises the needs of South Africans and seeks to to further the African agenda and contribute to maintaining global peace and security

Things have changed dramatically since the onset of democracy and South Africa no longer occupies the moral high ground it commanded under President Nelson Mandela .

“South Africa must reposition itself as a consistent moral compass and a principled voice of reason in a changing world increasingly characterized by selfish and narrow interests,” he said

Pahad says this is necessary for South Africa to be a critical player a world that is human, just, peaceful and equitable.

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The Nobel Peace Prize Laureate was the first elected African woman president.

Nelson Mandela said the Elders would bring courage where there is fear; agreement where there is conflict;  and hope where there is despair.

Former Irish President Mary Robinson, who currently heads the group, says Ellen Johnson Sirleaf will adequately fulfill this role.

Robinson, a former UN human rights chief,  also announced the elevation of Jordanian diplomat Zain Raad al Hussein, who was a successor in the UN job, and former Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos – another Nobel Peace Price laureate – to the elders.  

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South African Haysom was legal advisor to the late President Nelson Mandela.

Nicholas Haysom is an internationally acclaimed human rights lawyer. 

He’s been engaged by the United Nations in Afghanistan, Sudan and South Sudan.

Appointed by UN Secretary General António Guterres as his special envoy in Somalia, Haysom asked about the killing of supporters of former Al Shabaab spokesman Mukhtar Robow and the detention of 3 000 people.

Robow has sought to run as regional president after falling out with the jihadis.

The authorities have overruled the electoral commission’s approval of Robow’s candidacy and arrested him.

For questioning this crackdown on dissent, Haysom has been accused by the government of acting like the ruler of the country  and expelled.

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He says it will advance economic development  and improve food security through better agricultural production. 

Adressing the diplomatic corps in Pretoria, which he’s planning to do on a more regular basis, Ramaphosa says land reform is attracting much attention at home and abroad.

He’s confident South Africans will demonstrate their consensus-building ability to find a way of redressing historical wrongs. 

There were  well over 1,2 million inputs from South Africa when the constitution was crafted in 1994.

On land reform there have been more than 700 000 submissions from the public.

“This is the South African DNA. When confronted with matters of national importance, they go forth and build consensus,” he said

Ramaphosa says South Africans will build consensus on land reform as they did in 1994 under the late Nelson Mandela .

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