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.
Official reports reveal that the former ANC MP has had a falling-out with officials she found in the LA office when she landed in January. They accuse her of gross incompetence and of not being suitable for the post.
International relations & co-operation minister Naledi Pandor has launched an investigation into the saga.
Details of the frosty relationship between Sunduza and senior consular official Shadrack Nepfumbada emerged during a meeting of the parliamentary committee on international relations last week.
Sunduza had complained to the committee about Nepfumbada’s failure to secure her permanent accommodation. She accused him of insubordination and of sabotaging her. The committee is chaired by a friend of Sunduza, Tandi Mahambehlala.
MPs were told last week that the con
sulate had identified more than 30 properties that were either too expensive or whose owners had changed their minds about leasing the property to the consulate.
In a letter to the committee, Sunduza said Nepfumbada wanted “to destroy me, sabotage, frustrate me and make me fail”.
“I must say that this is now the most unpleasant place to be not because of work or delivery but the personalities I work (sic) here where I strongly believe the aim is to sabotage me and my work,” she writes in a complaint to parliament.
Sunduza reveals that she stayed at a hotel for her first seven days in the US before mov
ing to a small one-bedroom self-catering apartment with her five-year-old daughter.
“There was an excuse that Los Angeles is a tourist destination, it is full,” she writes.
She turned down an apartment previously used by another South African official, Nthabiseng Matlala, because of its condition, and spent some time in a property next to a construction site. This affected the health of her and her daughter, so she went back to the apartment she’d turned down.
“Currently I’m staying in the apartment Ms Matlala used to stay in, with dirty mats falling curtains, we currently sleep on the floor with my child because it’s wooden …
It’s a high level of insult. And were recently sick with my daughter. If no action is taken then it gives me liberty for a lawsuit, health conditions are bad. I’m not here for luxury but dignity is what I expect from a Person representing the PRESIDENT,” she writes.
During the open meeting with the parliamentary committee, Dirco officials declined to discuss the details of the investigation. MPs appeared to side with Sunduza, recommending that Dirco recall Nepfumbada.
However, the Sunday Times has seen official correspondence alleging months of abuse of the system by Sunduza.
Reports compiled by Nepfumbada paint a picture of an incompetent, unsuitable and uncouth diplomat.
“We had visited more than 27 houses since she arrived in January and before Covid-19, and she has not been able to make a decision, coming with excuses that houses are expensive in Los Angeles, which is not true,” Nepfumbada wrote to Mfeketo in May.
“It seems that her main focus is to find a big house located in Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills areas and that’s what has consumed
It’s a high level of insult … if no action is taken it gives me liberty for a lawsuit … dignity is what I expect from a Person representing the PRESIDENT Thandile Sunduza
South African consul-general in LA