Liliesleaf head against US envoy pick for SA
NIC Wolpe, the chief executive of Liliesleaf Trust, has returned from Washington, where he lobbied the US government and Congress on the choice of US ambassador to South Africa.
“I told them quite candidly that sending someone like Joel Pollak as ambassador to South Africa would send relations between South Africa and the US back to the Dark Ages,” Wolpe told Independent Media.
As Liliesleaf Trust has now been established in the US, Wolpe regularly travels there to raise funds.
He was invited by Microsoft’s head office to give a talk on South Africa’s liberation struggle, as well as by the University of Kentucky to give two lectures on the same subject.
Wolpe took the opportunity of being in the US to engage members of Congress, staffers on Capitol Hill, and senior officials at the State Department.
He received a warm reception from Republican and Democrat members of Congress whom he informally engaged on the issue of US representation in South Africa.
“A number of people at home told me it would be helpful to raise concern on Capitol Hill that if the US were to send Pollak as ambassador, he would have very little success engaging with the government and people of South Africa.”
According to Wolpe, Republicans and Democrats whom he met expressed a recognition across party lines that the relationship between the US and South Africa is important.
Pollak, who works as the senior editor-at-large of the extreme right-wing Breitbart News in the US, was previously the deputy to Breitbart editor Steve Bannon, who is now the chief strategist and advisor to President Donald Trump.
“The US should not allow someone with extreme rightwing views to be the representative in South Africa, especially given our history. Pollak espouses hatred if one considers Breitbart’s support for the Muslim travel ban which is predicated on religious grounds,” Wolpe said.
“How can people be expected to interact with such a person when he holds views opposite to our Freedom Charter and liberation strugglevalues?
“His presence in South Africa will only inflame the rising discord and discontent, which his mentor Steve Bannon seems to thrive on and foster in the White House.”
The US Embassy has confirmed to Independent Media that no choice for US ambassador to South Africa has been decided on, and there is currently no information on who Patrick Gaspard’s successor will be.
Wolpe has an established network of contacts in Congress given that his cousin Howard Wolpe was the chairperson of the subcommittee on Africa of the Committee on Foreign Affairs in the 1980s.
It was his cousin who had played an influential role in bringing the Africa Bill to Congress advocating sanctions against apartheid South Africa.
Howard Wolpe had also been appointed by presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama as a roaming US ambassador to the Great Lakes region.
Speaking to Nic Wolpe on condition of anonymity, a figure with well established contacts on Capitol Hill told him, “Presidents (Jacob) Zuma and Trump spoke of the need for closer economic ties between the two countries.
‘‘Any US ambassador to South Africa should have a deep knowledge of the trade and investment patterns, landscape and dynamics, as well as access to the business community and political leadership – something Pollak does not have and would not be able to establish or cultivate.”
He holds views opposite to our Freedom Charter and liberation struggle values