List of ambassadors and high commissioners of South Africa to the United Kingdom

The high commissioner of South Africa to the United Kingdom is an officer of the South African Department of International Relations and Cooperation and the head of the High Commission of the Republic of South Africa to the United Kingdom in London. The position has the rank and status of an ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary and also serves as South Africa's permanent representative to the International Maritime Organization (since 1959), a trustee of the Imperial War Museum and South Africa's Commonwealth War Graves Commissioner.

High Commissioner of South Africa to the United Kingdom
since 2022
StyleHis Excellency
AppointerCyril Ramaphosa
Inaugural holderSir Richard Solomon
FormationJune 1910
WebsiteSouth African High Commission, London

The high commissioner is currently Jeremiah Nyamane Mamabolo. On South Africa's departure from the Commonwealth of Nations in 1961, the High Commission became an Embassy. Following the end of Apartheid and South Africa's return to the Commonwealth on 1 June 1994, the High Commission was re-established to replace the former embassy.

Office-holders

edit
 
The South African High Commission on Trafalgar Square.

High commissioners from the Union of South Africa, 1910–61

edit
Incumbent Start of term End of term Notes
Sir Richard Solomon June 1910 10 November 1913 [1]
Sir David Graaff August 1914 November 1914 [2]
William Schreiner November 1914 28 June 1919 [3][4]
Sir Reginald Blankenberg (Chargé d'affaires) 28 June 1919 February 1921
Sir Edgar Walton February 1921 September 1924 [5][6][7]
Jacobus Stephanus Smit September 1924 March 1929 [8]
Eric Louw March 1929 November 1929
Charles Theodore Te Water November 1929 September 1939 [9][10]
Sidney Frank Waterson September 1939 June 1943 [11][12]
Deneys Reitz June 1943 19 October 1944 [13][14]
George Heaton Nicholls 1944 1947
Leif Egeland March 1948 1950 [15]
Albertus Lourens Geyer May 1950 June 1954 [16][17]
Gerhardus Petrus Jooste September 1954 1956 [18]
John Edward Holloway 1956 1958
A. J. R. van Rhijn 1959 1960
Hilgard Muller 1961 30 May 1961

Ambassadors from the Republic of South Africa, 1961–94

edit
Incumbent Start of term End of term Notes
Hilgard Muller 31 May 1961 1963
Carel de Wet 1964 1967
Hendrik Gerhardus Luttig 1967 1972
Carel de Wet 1972 1979
Dawie de Villiers April 1979 October 1980
Carel de Wet 1980 1983
Denis Worrall 1984 1987
Peter Rae Killen 5 February 1987 1991
Kent Durr 15 April 1991 31 May 1994

High commissioners from the Republic of South Africa, 1994–date

edit
Incumbent Start of term End of term Notes
Mendi Msimang 1994 1997
Cheryl Carolus 2 March 1998 2001
Lindiwe Mabuza 2001 2010
Zola Skweyiya 2010 2014
Obed Mlaba 2014 2017 [19]
Nomatemba Tambo 2018 2022 [20]
Jeremiah Nyamane Mamabolo 2022 date

See also

edit

References

edit
  1. ^ "NEW APPOINTMENTS". The Argus (Melbourne). Victoria, Australia. 2 June 1910. p. 7. Retrieved 12 April 2020 – via Trove.
  2. ^ "AFRICAN COMMISSIONER". The Sun. New South Wales, Australia. 14 August 1914. p. 1. Retrieved 12 April 2020 – via Trove.
  3. ^ "NEW HIGH COMMISSIONER". The Herald. Victoria, Australia. 14 November 1914. p. 12. Retrieved 12 April 2020 – via Trove.
  4. ^ "SOUTH AFRICAN HIGH COMMISSIONER'S DEATH". The Brisbane Courier. Queensland, Australia. 30 June 1919. p. 11. Retrieved 12 April 2020 – via Trove.
  5. ^ "SIR EDGAR WALTON". The Sun. New South Wales, Australia. 2 March 1921. p. 9. Retrieved 12 April 2020 – via Trove.
  6. ^ "No. 13224". The Edinburgh Gazette. 18 March 1918. p. 1039.
  7. ^ "No. 32090". The London Gazette. 19 October 1920. p. 10098.
  8. ^ "New Commissioner". The Telegraph. Queensland, Australia. 26 September 1924. p. 9. Retrieved 12 April 2020 – via Trove.
  9. ^ "DOMINION REPRESENTATIVES". The Mercury. Tasmania, Australia. 11 July 1929. p. 9. Retrieved 12 April 2020 – via Trove.
  10. ^ "SOUTH AFRICAN HIGH COMMISSIONER RESIGNS". The Herald. Victoria, Australia. 14 September 1939. p. 8. Retrieved 12 April 2020 – via Trove.
  11. ^ "MR. TE WATER'S RESIGNATION". The West Australian. Western Australia. 16 September 1939. p. 17. Retrieved 12 April 2020 – via Trove.
  12. ^ "MR. SIDNEY F. WATERSON". North-eastern Advertiser. Tasmania, Australia. 1 June 1943. p. 4. Retrieved 12 April 2020 – via Trove.
  13. ^ "South Africa". Kalgoorlie Miner. Western Australia. 26 December 1942. p. 3. Retrieved 12 April 2020 – via Trove.
  14. ^ "Sth. African High Commissioner Dead". The Telegraph. Queensland, Australia. 20 October 1944. p. 2. Retrieved 12 April 2020 – via Trove.
  15. ^ "South African Envoy In London". The Central Queensland Herald. Queensland, Australia. 4 March 1948. p. 13. Retrieved 12 April 2020 – via Trove.
  16. ^ "New Post". The Advertiser (Adelaide). South Australia. 14 March 1950. p. 7. Retrieved 12 April 2020 – via Trove.
  17. ^ "TREVOR SMITH'S LONDON MARY". The Advertiser (Adelaide). South Australia. 7 June 1954. p. 2. Retrieved 12 April 2020 – via Trove.
  18. ^ "WHO BLUFFS WHO?". Townsville Daily Bulletin. Queensland, Australia. 11 September 1954. p. 3. Retrieved 12 April 2020 – via Trove.
  19. ^ Head, Tom (24 September 2017). "South Africa's High Commissioner in the UK secretly recalled". The South African. Retrieved 12 April 2020.
  20. ^ Head, Tom (16 March 2018). "SA's new High Commissioner to the UK gets the Queen's approval". The South African. Retrieved 12 April 2020.
edit