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Speaker 1: Seven oh two drives. So you heard him a little

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Speaker 1: earlier from Bali Dlamini that presidents saw Rama Pasa welcoming

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Speaker 1: twenty new ambassadors and high commissioners to South Africa. Obviously

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Speaker 1: front and center in a lot of the conversation around

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Speaker 1: this has been the US Ambassador to South Africa, Brent Bozell,

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Speaker 1: amongst those presenting their credentials to President Rama Pasa, Todavid,

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Speaker 1: many other countries involved as well, to give you in

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Speaker 1: just a smattering of names before we get into some

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Speaker 1: more details with my colleague Alfa Romo, Schwana, Angola, Barbados, Denmark, Ghana, Haiti, Lebanon, Malaysia, Mauritius, Mozambique, Norway,

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Speaker 1: the Philippines, and there's some others besides. So let's find

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Speaker 1: out then from Alfa Romo Shwana a little bit more

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Speaker 1: about the event Alpha Welcome. President Rama Pausa used the

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Speaker 1: platform to make some points about international diplomacy, but also

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Speaker 1: about what kind of relationships South Africa is looking to

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Speaker 1: have with these twenty heads of mission. What were some

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Speaker 1: of the key points that he made and how do

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Speaker 1: you think those points went down? Goton to you.

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Speaker 2: Good afternoon, John, Well you would know that. Ever since

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Speaker 2: US President Donald Trump was re elected as the President

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Speaker 2: of the United States of America, there's been a lot

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Speaker 2: of bickering between South Africa and Washington, and it's partially

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Speaker 2: because of the diplomatic relationship falling out between the two

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Speaker 2: countries and Presidents Litle Rama Forsa emphasizing that South Africa

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Speaker 2: has learned a lesson or two about diplomacy, how ambassadors

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Speaker 2: should behave when they are deployed or sent to other countries,

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Speaker 2: and how other ambassadors should behave here in South Africa.

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Speaker 2: You remember, John, that Ibraim Rasul as well was declared

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Speaker 2: persona and grata by the American government and had to

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Speaker 2: come back to South Africa. And recently Brent Bosell, despite

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Speaker 2: having only been here for about two months, has already

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Speaker 2: landed in the bad books of the International Relations Department

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Speaker 2: here at home. And President Sera Ramaposa says all of

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Speaker 2: this is because there are ambassadors who do not believe

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Speaker 2: in engaging peacefully and raising concerns quietly and through official

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Speaker 2: diplomatic channels. He has urged the twenty new ambassadors at

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Speaker 2: the Presidential guest House today, John to ensure that any

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Speaker 2: problem that they raise or that they have with the

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Speaker 2: South African government, they raise it through the official channels

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Speaker 2: and not through the public or not publicly. I mean,

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Speaker 2: of course, referring to Brent Bosell, who recently publicly criticized

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Speaker 2: the court ruling on the killed the Boar chant, saying

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Speaker 2: that that chant amounts to hate speech and the Constitutional

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Speaker 2: Court's ruling was wrong. And so the President believes that

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Speaker 2: in order for diplomatic relationships between America and South Africa

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Speaker 2: and any other country really to flourish, diplomats need to

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Speaker 2: learn quiet diplomacy and to raise their concerns through the

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Speaker 2: official channels. So really he was asking them to be

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Speaker 2: quite measured in how they raised your concerns.

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Speaker 1: So, I mean, it's very much a formal ceremony. We

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Speaker 1: heard in Ambali Tlamini's bulletin the material that you'd sent

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Speaker 1: through Ambassador Bozell striking a very conciliatory note. One of

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Speaker 1: the things that struck me. I don't know how diplomats

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Speaker 1: deal with these kinds of awkwardnesses, if there's such a word.

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Speaker 1: But on the one hand, the United States presenting the

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Speaker 1: credentials of that country, but Cuba, which is not exactly

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Speaker 1: enjoying the warmest of relations with the United States. One

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Speaker 1: of the others amongst the twenty who were present, You

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Speaker 1: didn't happen to notice if those two ambassadors had a

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Speaker 1: quiet chat or kept their distance.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, it's very very quick ceremony today, John, Yes, the

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Speaker 2: person president receiving the letters of credence and the credentials

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Speaker 2: from the twenty different ambassadors and mission heads. And after

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Speaker 2: the event, everyone just peacefully went to their respective homes

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Speaker 2: or embassies. You know, I did not see a lot

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Speaker 2: of them having a quick chat. In fact, most of

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Speaker 2: them after the President closed the ceremony left immediately. Of course,

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Speaker 2: those who hung out, the likes of Brent Bozl who

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Speaker 2: would have had a chat with members of the media

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Speaker 2: and journalists and others from Zimbabwe and African countries who

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Speaker 2: stood and spoke to each other for a few minutes.

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Speaker 2: But Cuba and the American mission or embassy heads really

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Speaker 2: did not see them even having a conversation today, So

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Speaker 2: it did not feel awkward. But of course we were

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Speaker 2: looking forward for looking forward to those conversations, which unfortunately

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Speaker 2: never happened.

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Speaker 1: Okay, thanks so much, Alfa Ramushwana, EWN reporter, So twenty

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Speaker 1: countries presenting their credentials. They didn't all arrive at the

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Speaker 1: same time. It's not a sudden flood. I think the

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Speaker 1: way it works is they kind of bank up quite

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Speaker 1: a few and then they have the ceremony as inclusive

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Speaker 1: as possibles. Other countries. I didn't mention Greece, Hungary, Lebanon, Malaysia,

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Speaker 1: I don't think I mentioned before, Nize, Norway, the Sarawi

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Speaker 1: Arab Democratic Republic in Ukraine and Zimbabwe, and be interesting

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Speaker 1: to see how the Ukrainian ambassador goes about his or

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Speaker 1: her business. I don't know anything about them, but the

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Speaker 1: previous incumbent certainly got very involved in engaging the media

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Speaker 1: and trying to get the message of that country across

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Speaker 1: to a South African audience. So interesting times twenty five

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Speaker 1: past three