A Diplomat's Story. Apartheid and Beyond 1969-1998

Title: A Diplomat's Story
Subtitle: Apartheid and Beyond 1969-1998
Author: Pieter Wolvaardt
Publisher: Galago
Cape Town, South Africa 2005
ISBN 1919854150 / ISBN 1-919854-15-0
ISBN 9781919854151 / ISBN 978-1-91-985415-1
Softcover, 17 x 24 cm, 336 pages, numerous photos

About: A Diplomat's Story. Apartheid and Beyond 1969-1998

Pieter Wolvaardt joined the Department of South African Foreign Affairs in 1969 and served as a junior diplomat in Brazil from until 1973. He went through the thick of the apartheid days when the world ignored South Africa and most countries cut ties, officially defending the indefensible but all the time knowing that apartheid was wrong. After spells in London and Lisbon he returned to Pretoria on the South American desk just when the Falklands War between Great Britain and the Argentine begun in 1982. A time, when South Africa was performing a balancing act between those two countries and going through all manner of difficulties in the process. In 1986 while serving as ambassador in Buenos Aires he was expelled from the country after the SADF conducted raids against ANC installations in Botswana, Zimbabwe and Zambia. From 1986 to 1990 he was in Brazil and in 1993 he accompanied President F W de Klerk on official visits. In 1994 President Nelson Mandela appointed him as South Africa’s first Ambassador to Mexico. He retired after a successful career with the Department of Foreign Affairs in 1998.

Content: A Diplomat's Story. Apartheid and Beyond 1969-1998

Acknowledgements
Foreword
Illustrations
Foreign Affairs: Confusion reigns: 1969
First posting Brazil: Young, callow and enthusiastic: 1970 to 1973
Civil servant, lackey or apparatchik?
When should a civil servant resign?
Spell in Pretoria's salt mines: 1974-1975
London: Fun years: 1976-1978
Lisbon: 1979-1982
Kidnap and murder of Ambassador Eddie Dunn, El Salvador 1979
The Falklands War: 1982
No progress at head office: 1982-1986
Chile and South Africa
Afrikaner constituency in Argentina: 1982-1986
Relations with Brazil continue to deteriorate: 1982-1986
Argentina: Ongoing difficulties
Argentina: Don't cry for me Caputo! January-May 1986
I crack up: June-August 1986
Brazil: September 1986-1990
Paraguay: General Stroessner and beyond
Bolivia: An interesting country
Uruguay
Pretoria: June 1990-September 1993
President FW de Klerk: Official visits in South America: August 1993
Brazil: September-December 1993
I arrive in Mexico City along with democracy: January 1994
Central America: 1994-1997
Cuba
Mexico City until September 1997
Pretoria: Foreign Service Institute
Package or persevere? Career ends 1998
Bibliography
Photographic acknowledgements
Index