Tips for Bozell: A geopolitical survival guide from Mzansi for US ambassador to SA

Barely two weeks into the job, the United States Ambassador to South Africa, Leo Brent Bozell III, seems determined to join a rather awkward club: American diplomats who have recently been reprimanded by their host nations.

The trend has not gone unnoticed. In France, the US ambassador Charles Kushner found himself rebuked and blocked after remarks widely interpreted as meddling in French politics. In Poland, Prime Minister Donald Tusk (yes that is his name) and members of Parliament also publicly chastised US Ambassador Tom Rose for insults and threats unbecoming of a diplomat. Ambassador Bozell has clearly decided not to be left behind.

Bozell declared that he does not care about South Africa’s courts - a statement that triggered the sort of eyebrow-raise normally reserved for visiting tourists who ask whether lions roam the streets of Pretoria.

As a South African living and working in his country, I thought a spirit of international cooperation is called for. Here is a short survival guide to help the US ambassador navigate the sometimes-unfamiliar terrain of South African political culture.

First Tip: South Africans do not respond well to the “baas” tone.

There is a cultural nuance the ambassador should understand. South Africans do not appreciate being spoken to like children. Blame colonialism. Blame apartheid. Blame a long and exhausting history of white men who arrived on this continent convinced they had a civilising mission and a permanent right to lecture Africans about how to run their own affairs. Instead, they bequeathed to African nations decades of racism, oppression and violence. That baas mentality does not travel well in South Africa.

When foreign officials adopt the tone of colonial supervisors explaining democracy to the natives, the reaction is swift and instinctive. We have heard that voice before from governors, administrators and men who believed their authority came from race rather than consent. South Africans are warm and hospitable people. We are also deeply allergic to condescension. To put it plainly: we are truly NOT “those kinds of Blacks”.

Second Tip: In South Africa, the courts are not decorative

South Africans have an unusual attachment to their Constitution. Our courts have ruled against governments, Parliament and presidents. Civil society forced the government of Thabo Mbeki to provide life-saving HIV treatment after winning in court. A former president, Jacob Zuma, was sent to prison by the Constitutional Court.

Even Nelson Mandela, while serving as president, was dragged to court by “Die Pous van Ellis Park”, Louis Luyt. Mandela had to comply with the apex court’s findings, which limited his powers in transforming rugby.

So, when a visiting ambassador says he does not care about South Africa’s courts, it triggers a national gasp. He comes across as someone who has mistaken Pretoria for a cable news studio. In South Africa, constitutionalism isn’t a suggestion; it is a covenant. And every citizen, from the humblest to the president, is bound by it.

Third Tip: South Africans forgive even their critics

Ambassador Bozell has spent decades denouncing the anti-apartheid struggle. Even when Mandela died in 2013, he complained on social media that the media was “mythologising” Mandela. It is a curious complaint from a man who represents a nation that venerates the right to bear arms with near-religious devotion.

But hey, like their icon, South Africans are generally warm and forgiving. In August 1995, at the height of his power, and in an act of grace and forgiveness, Mandela took a trip to Orania to have tea with Betsie Verwoerd, the widow of the architect of apartheid, Hendrik Verwoerd. Even President Thabo Mbeki offered the former president and apartheid strongman PW Botha a state funeral. His family declined, but Mbeki still issued a magnanimous formal statement of condolence. This country knows how to embrace “the other”. Just don’t insult the courts.

Fourth Tip: Don’t mistake the fringe for the State

Another diplomatic best practice: engage the sovereign state, not the loudest voices on the margins. The South African government does not have a policy called “Kill the Boer”. The parties governing the country do not sing it at official events. Most citizens do not care about it. Yet some observers appear strangely eager to elevate fringe obsessions into national policy debates. It’s a curious diplomatic strategy: imagine arriving in Britain and deciding that the best way to understand British policy is by quoting the comments section of the salacious tabloid The Sun. South Africa is governed by a Constitution, not by viral outrage.

Fifth Tip: South Africans don’t weaponise family scandals

In Black families, the first thing asked when a child misbehaves is “what kind of family does he/she come from?” When Ambassador Bozell arrived in Pretoria, nobody raised the matter of his son, Leo Brent Bozell IV, who was convicted for his role in the January 6 attack on the US Capitol. A federal jury found him guilty of not one, not two, not three, but 10 criminal charges. He was among the rioters who pushed against police barricades to confront officers. Bozell junior was sentenced to three years but was later pardoned by Donald Trump.

Not a single South African has raised this history because “we listen and we don’t judge”. Just keep the offspring away from the Union Buildings. And try not to lecture South Africans about politics, institutions and the rule of law.

A Final Tip for Ambassador Bozell:

South Africa is not a fragile state. It is a noisy, argumentative, resilient democracy.

Our politics are messy. Our debates are loud. Our institutions are often tested.

But one thing is non-negotiable: the Constitution. Respect it, and you will find South Africans warm, generous and endlessly welcoming.

Ignore it, and you may soon learn a uniquely South African phrase: “Hier kom kak!” Ask AfriForum to translate. DM

Redi Tlhabi is a South African journalist, producer, author and a former radio presenter.