Following my wife and I’s first (and last) holiday to South Africa – my next connection was on a professional basis.
I was, from the late nineties, the Director of Education of the UK Institute of Export IoE) – a registered educational charity and the accredited Awarding Body for all UK qualifications in international trade.
The Foreign Office
I had accepted an invitation from, what was then, the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO), now renamed – as is the habit of new Ministers – the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO).
Which, I suppose, is better than its original title in 1696 – ‘The Council of Trade and Foreign Plantations’.
the invite was, to attend a meeting in their headquarters in London – to meet a delegation of MPs, from the, relatively newly elected, South African Parliament – an open election, in 1994, returning a majority of ANC members.
The purpose of the meeting – arranged and funded by the FCO, was for relevant UK organisations to discuss and answer questions regarding a strategy for the provision of international trade education, training and accredited qualifications- with a delegation, from the South African parliament, of MPs with relevant portfolios e.g. trade development, vocational education, accredited qualifications etc.
The Meeting
I had visited the FCO headquarters a number of times before – a very historic and impressive building.
In fact, the IoE’s Annual Graduation & Prize Giving ceremony, had been hosted there on a number of occasions and, as the then Chair of the IoE’s Education Committee, I had addressed a 200+ audience in the Locarno Room – felt like a Bond movie.
Though not quite as impressive as, another venue we had used – the Egyptian Hall in the Mansion House – the Mayor of London’s pad.
Introductions
The two groups were sat, at opposite ends of a large boardroom table, facing each other
Myself and three other invitees – including representatives of The International Federation of Freight Forwarders, Chartered Institute of Marketing and High Wycombe College – we introduced ourselves – I was actually wearing two hats – the IoE and my Manchester College.
The S. African delegation introduced themselves personally. There were six of them – three men and three woman -two white – both male and four black.
I believe this level of detail is relevant to how the meeting developed and the attitudes we encountered.
They took turns to introduce themselves, from left to right.
First, white male – ‘Stephanus Franzoois DuToit – ‘but you can call me Steve’ with a smile – and then a brief on his areas of interest.
Rest a little less open – names (some tricky) and interests – and the last – black lady in her traditional dress and an aloof demeaner –
Leader of the delegation – she makes clear first. Name – Nombuyiselo Adoons – and you can call me -Ms Adoons!
Point made.
I won’t bore you with the ensuing exchange –
She constantly exerted her apparent authority – seemed to have already decided that we could tell her nothing – even interrupting her own people as well as talking over us. It became obvious that her white colleagues were long suffering and accepted it – with the odd quiet sigh.
During the whole meeting, I never saw her make a single note of anything – I would regard that as deliberately insulting.
The meeting was scheduled for up to three hours – after nearly two hours she decided that they needed to be somewhere else – and the meeting was over. Much to the relief of my side of the table – my guess was a like-minded – ‘that’s another day I won’t ever get back’.
They disappeared quickly without even a hint of thanks – maybe got some shopping to do.
The FCO host must have seen it before – he didn’t waste time in being embarrassed – just apologised for our time being wasted and promised to try to make up for it by putting us on a short list for other projects which would be more productive.
A diplomat – no mention at all of tax -payer’s money.
Due to the early finish – I had time to spare for my train home and ended up in a local pub with a couple of the team and a couple of pints and the first interesting conversation of the day.