Diva envoy’s LA bust-up
Consulate in LA in uproar over ‘uncouth’ consul with a taste for expensive real estate
● SA’s top diplomat in the US west coast city of Los Angeles is accused of rejecting more than 30 properties offered to her by the department of international relations (Dirco) and is said to have set her eyes on properties on Beverly Hills’ super-plush Rodeo Drive.
LA consul-general Thandile Sunduza is also said to have made demands that have irked potential landlords, including importing furniture from the East and changing kitchen cupboards and wall units.
In addition, she’s being accused of being uncouth, and lacking a full grasp of her job.
As head of the South African mission in LA, Sunduza is tasked with promoting SA as an investment destination. The US is SA’s third-largest trading partner. But the accommodation scandal has raised questions about her suitability for the job.
SA has four missions in the US — the embassy in Washington and consular offices in Chicago, New York and LA.
Since January the South African government has spent more than R650,000 on temporary accommodation for Sunduza in a series of apartments.
The state has budgeted R238,253 amonth for her permanent home, but department officials said she wants to spend more than R260,000 of taxpayers’ money per month.
Almost 10 months after Sunduza landed in the US, officials in the consul-general’s office have failed to find a place that meets her demand to live in Beverly Hills.
In official correspondence to SA’s ambassador to the US, Nomaindia Mfeketo, a senior official says Sunduza wants a house on the upmarket neighbourhood’s famous Rodeo Drive. The street houses the most expensive stores in the US and is home to Hollywood superstars and filmmakers.
her time,” reads the e-mail.
In other correspondence, the official claims that Sunduza makes extra demands on landlords, asking them to spend money to renovate or refurbish their houses.
“For example the house we lost located at 236 Rodeo Drive, consul-general had two pages of demands, requesting landlord to change kitchen and bathroom appliances of the house, wall units, etc. [An official] even reprimanded our consul-general to stop making extra demands from prospective landlords.
“Another house we lost because the consul-general requested the landlord to import furniture and carpets from Pakistan, Egypt and Turkey,” Nepfumbada writes.
He says Sunduza wanted to exceed approved rental norms, comparing herself with consul-generals from developed countries who had purchased their official residences many years ago.
The report says some estate agents from the mission’s service provider database pulled out because they felt that they had wasted their fuel and energy moving around with a client who did not know what she wanted.
Nepfumbada has now been summoned to Pretoria for a “consultation”, apparently to explain his clashes with Sunduza.
Sunduza declined to comment, referring questions to Dirco.
Dirco’s Lunga Ngqengelele said the search for an official residence took place in areas recommended by the local office of the US state department — areas where many diplomats reside. These were Century City, Beverly Hills and Hancock Park.
Ngqengelele said between August and October the mission submitted three properties — on Rodeo Drive, in Hancock Park and in Beverly Grove — to its head office for approval, and these were approved. “In all cases, the agent responded that they have lost the property before signing the contract,” he said.
An investigation by a counsellor at SA’s permanent mission at the UN in New York recommended that alternative, longer-term accommodation be found for Sunduza and that a team-building exercise be conducted to ensure that the mission staff refocuses on the work that needs to be done.
Nepfumbada’s report says Sunduza lacks “diplomatic gravitas and protocol etiquette”.
“My experience working with the consulgeneral for a few months has shown that she does not understand diplomatic practices [and] is uncouth in the way she carries and conducts herself, which is sometimes embarrassing especially amongst the public or when we have external visitors at the mission.”
Sunduza, according to Nepfumbada, embarrassed the mission by not adhering to its dress code.
“It is embarrassing, especially when we have visiting guests in the mission or when we go outside the office for meetings,” reads his report.
Nepfumbada also claims that Sunduza drops President Cyril Ramaphosa’s name all the time to have her way.
She “always expresses this statement: ‘I’m appointed by the president. I was a member of parliament and chairperson of the arts & culture parliament portfolio committee and I have connections with many ministers back home in SA, MPs, and I have direct contact with the president.’
“You can see this in some of her e-mail messages and correspondences whereby she quoted President Ramaphosa’s name and uses the president’s name to instil fear among the staff,” he writes.
A source close to Sunduza said none of the allegations in Nepfumbada’s reports were true.