New South African HC to Seychelles accredited |02 March 2022

Dr Manzini with President Ramkalawan during her accreditation visit (Photo: Louis Toussaint)

The new high commissioner (HC) of South Africa to Seychelles, Dr Hlamalani Nelly Manzini, presented her credentials to President Wavel Ramkalawan yesterday morning at State House.

Since South Africa and Seychelles established diplomatic relations on November 8, 1993, Dr Manzini is the 4th South African HC to be accredited to Seychelles.

After her visit to the President, HC Manzini noted that Seychelles and South Africa have ‘very cordial’ relationship.

“We discussed the nature of our relationship which we need to strengthen and build up to the highest level of pollical sphere. We are working on that, but most importantly we discussed about skill development of the people of Seychelles – medical doctors, nurses and also to provide training and technical expertise in terms of security and the fight against drug trafficking. We have agreed to share skills on that. With the Vice-President we talked about the same issues and we even talked about how to assist and collaborate in the fisheries sector.”

Dr Manzini added that the relationship between Seychelles and South Africa is very healthy. “We know Seychelles is a small country but we attach high premium on Seychelles because of its peaceful nature, of its experience particular in fishing, which we can always share. Most importantly we discussed lengthily about how to fight corruption. South Africa has led the way in dealing with corruption and our relationship will be strong as we have got similarities in what we want to pursue.”

Talking about the tragic event where our Seychellois students had to leave South Africa because of tension and riots, Dr Manzini declared that “we also talked about that with the President. As we are fighting corruption, we are also fighting criminality. The people who have instigated criminality have been brought to court and people are being held accountable for that. The way we have dealt with it, I do not think there would be anyone who would want to commit such kind of unrest. South Africa is safe for our students as security has moved in. Safety is there and we are dealing with these people.”

Dr Manzini also paid a courtesy visit to Vice-President Ahmed Afif yesterday.

During her visit she will also meet the Speaker of the National Assembly, Designated Minister, ministers, leader of the opposition in the National Assembly, dean of the diplomatic corps and some South African businessmen based in Seychelles.

Dr Manzani will be based in Port Louis, Mauritius.

Vidya Gappy