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Tony Leon to Washington: Whitewashing a Legacy of Elite Rule

In response to Helen Zille.

ali ridha khan
For reference watch this excerpt from the SABC

The Myth of the “Skilled Diplomat”

The Democratic Alliance (DA) frames former party leader Tony Leon as a “skilled diplomat” fit to represent South Africa in Washington. But this glowing portrayal wilfully ignores Leon’s political history and its entanglement with apartheid’s legacy, neoliberal dogma, and racial hierarchies. Far from being a neutral statesman, Leon built his career as an opposition politician who courted white fears and capitalist interests. In the late 1990s, his DA (then Democratic Party) campaigned under the slogan “Fight Back”, a barely veiled dog-whistle widely heard as “fight black” – an appeal to those anxious about black majority rule​. Leon even struck alliances with remnants of the apartheid regime (merging with the National Party’s successors) in a quest for power​. Calling him meritorious glosses over how he leveraged racial anxieties and protected privilege.

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Leon’s track record hardly embodies high-minded diplomacy. Decades ago, he penned articles praising the apartheid military – describing the South African Defense Force’s brutal 1970s invasion of Angola as “one of many splendored tasks of the army”​. He even called an apartheid detention center “strictly regulated and humane”​, despite it being a site of torture and abuse. These are uncomfortable truths beneath the veneer of a “seasoned diplomat.” His tenure as ambassador to Argentina (a post granted in a gesture of political co-option by the ANC) is cited as proof of his diplomatic prowess. Yet even that appointment was less about extraordinary skill than about elite back-scratching – the ANC-led government extending an olive branch to a vocal opponent by giving him a cushy posting​. It’s a reminder that in post-apartheid South Africa, yesterday’s adversaries often find common cause at the top. Calling Leon uniquely qualified ignores how his politics aligned neatly with what Washington elites prefer: a pro-West, pro-market figure who won’t rock the boat. Indeed, Leon has openly criticised South Africa’s own foreign policy for being too “antagonistic” to Western allies – chiding Pretoria’s stance against Israel and its ties with Iran​. Is it any surprise the DA touts him as the perfect envoy to the United States? His “skill” lies largely in catering to the sensibilities of the powerful, not in advancing any transformative agenda for the powerless.

“Merit” and the Mirage of Good Governance

By proposing Leon, the DA claims to champion meritocracy and good governance – insinuating that unlike the ruling ANC, they appoint based on competence, not cadre loyalty. But merit according to whom? The DA’s meritocratic posturing often masks a commitment to maintaining a status quo of privilege. Leon’s career epitomises this: his policies and rhetoric rarely challenged the structural inequalities born of colonialism and apartheid. Under his leadership, the party fiercely opposed remedial reforms like affirmative action – denouncing the 1998 Employment Equity Bill as “pernicious…social engineering.” In practice, “merit” was defined in a way that upheld white advantage in the job market. The DA’s governance record, especially in the Western Cape, is often praised for efficiency, yet the province remains one of the most unequal, with townships and luxury estates separated by invisible walls of spatial and economic apartheid. South Africa’s Gini coefficient hovers around 0.63 – one of the highest inequality rates in the world. What has the DA tangibly done to upend this injustice? Their policies hew to market fundamentalism, insisting that free enterprise alone will uplift the poor​. In reality, this neoliberal gospel has meant social services cutbacks, reluctance toward wealth redistribution, and blaming the victims of poverty for their plight.

Invoking “good governance,” the DA loves to lambast ANC corruption and mismanagement – a valid critique – but good governance is not only about clean audits and investor confidence. It’s also about uprooting systemic oppression. On that front, the DA has been largely silent or complicit. Leon and his party never fundamentally challenged the post-1994 economic order that left land, capital and power largely in the same hands as before. Instead, Leon infamously crowed that the ANC’s adoption of neoliberal policies in the late 1990s meant “we have won the policy argument” – illustrating the DA’s convergence with the ruling party on entrenching a market-led, elite-friendly framework. The DA’s notion of merit conveniently aligns with existing power: English-speaking, business-approved, Western-educated elites like Leon sail through as “competent,” while grassroots voices are dismissed as “populist.” This is a meritocracy of the elite, not a genuine egalitarian vision.

Diplomacy as Laundering Reputations

The push to send Tony Leon to the US must be seen in the light of a common practice: using diplomatic appointments to whitewash reputations and reward loyal servants of the establishment. Throughout the world (and certainly in South Africa), ambassadorships in glittering capitals are the retirement gold-watch for political elites. For Leon, a posting to Washington would cap his career with a statesmanlike halo, conveniently distancing him from the more unsavory aspects of his legacy. It’s a form of rebranding: from opposition firebrand who pandered to apartheid nostalgia into a grandfatherly diplomat shaking hands in DC cocktail parties. Such appointments often do little to advance the interests of the people back home; they’re about networking among elites and reinforcing alliances within the imperial core.

In Washington, an ambassador like Leon would not be expected to challenge US hegemony or speak uncomfortable truths about global inequality. Quite the opposite – his role would be to mollify Washington’s power-brokers, assure them that South Africa remains friendly to Western capital and geopolitical interests. This might include soft-pedaling South Africa’s support for Palestinian rights or pan-African unity in favor of toeing the US line – exactly as Leon himself has advocated​. The beneficiaries of this diplomacy are elite interests on both sides: American policymakers get a congenial partner who won’t question the neoliberal consensus, and South Africa’s rulers get a direct line to Washington’s halls of power. Ordinary South Africans, especially the black and poor majority, are nowhere in this equation. For them, the daily struggles – poverty, joblessness, landlessness – won’t be alleviated by having Tony Leon chat up U.S. senators. But Leon’s image will be burnished, and the DA can bask in the pride of having one of their own in the court of empire. The whole spectacle is political theatre, a far cry from the revolutionary diplomacy that anti-imperialists (from Patrice Lumumba to Nelson Mandela in his early years) envisioned – diplomacy that would center justice, not just polite business as usual.

Liberal Constitutionalism and Elite Convergence

Tony Leon’s nomination must also be situated in the broader trajectory of South Africa’s liberal democratic project. The 1994 transition, while ending formal apartheid, created a constitutional order that preserved existing economic power structures under the guise of non-racialism and individual rights. The liberal constitutionalism championed by the DA has proven adept at containing radical change. It offers robust protections for civil liberties (important gains, to be sure) but has also shielded property relations and corporate capital from the kind of mass redistribution needed to uproot apartheid’s legacy. Both the DA and the ANC largely operate within this paradigm – fiercely debating policy details while sharing a fundamental commitment to the neoliberal status quo​. Indeed, over the past three decades, we’ve seen a striking elite convergence: former liberation movement cadres and erstwhile liberal opponents mingling in the same cocktail circuits, trading cabinet posts and ambassadorial gigs. It was no accident that the ANC government sent Tony Leon to Argentina as an ambassador shortly after he stepped down as DA leader​ – a gesture that symbolised the incorporation of the old white opposition into the new multiracial elite. Leon’s return as a potential U.S. ambassador continues that story: a convergence of interests where yesterday’s foes unite to manage an unjust order rather than transform it.

From a Black Consciousness and Pan-Africanist perspective, this liberal elite pact is precisely what our liberation heroes warned against. Steve Biko cautioned that “integration” (when pursued on white terms) could become a trap that co-opts black aspirations into a system still defined by whiteness and inequality. Today, we see a superficially integrated ruling class – black and white politicians alike – that largely serves global capital and local white-owned industry, while the masses remain dispossessed. The DA loves to wrap itself in the language of the Constitution, “rule of law,” and “orderly governance.” Yet what has this meant for the Azanian working class and dispossessed? It has meant patience and sacrifices urged upon the poor, while the wealthy consolidate their gains under the protection of law. The Pan-Africanist lens reminds us that true decolonization was not achieved in 1994; South Africa remains tied to neocolonial patterns – its economy dominated by Western interests and its foreign policy often pulled between loyalty to the African continent and pressure to appease Euro-American powers. A figure like Tony Leon tilts the balance decidedly toward the latter: the imperial core’s preferences over Pan-African solidarity.

Even the ANC, in its quest to be the “broad church” of all South Africans, has too often prioritized elite reconciliation over revolutionary change. We recall how the ANC under Mandela and Mbeki reassured whites and investors – from retaining apartheid-era economists to including the old anthem “Die Stem” in a composite national anthem. These concessions were aimed at stability, but they also signaled a deal: political office for the black majority, economic power stays largely with the (mostly white) elite. In such a context, the DA and ANC start to look like two wings of a pro-capital, centrist consensus, squabbling over patronage but aligned on fundamentals. The DA’s touting of Tony Leon as ambassador – and the possibility the ANC government might actually consider it – shows how interchangeable the elites have become. It’s a far cry from the vision of thinkers like Ali Shariati, the Iranian revolutionary who railed against the “Westoxified” local elites in the Global South who become administrators of imperial interests. Shariati’s call for a spiritual and cultural reawakening – a revolution of values to overthrow both foreign domination and domestic tyranny – resonates as we witness these tepid power games. Where is the moral compass in our politics? Certainly not in the self-congratulatory liberalism that anoints a man like Tony Leon as an ambassadorial savior.

Reclaiming Liberation Politics

The DA’s move to elevate Tony Leon is not a bold innovation but a tired repetition of politics-as-usual. It reflects a poverty of imagination among South Africa’s establishment. When faced with crises – like frosty relations with the U.S. after our government took principled stances on Palestine or dared foster BRICS ties – their impulse is to retreat to the old comfortable figureheads who reassure the empire that nothing truly radical will transpire in Pretoria. Leon is being sold as the ultimate problem-solver, the wise elder who will restore luster to South Africa’s image abroad. Yet to the oppressed majority, this is a slap in the face. It says: your liberation can wait; first we must placate Washington. It says that those who defended the status quo for decades – who resisted calls for economic justice – will not only escape accountability but be rewarded with plum posts.

We reject this cynical narrative. True merit in a society like ours would mean elevating those who have fought for the people, not those who fought to keep the old order intact. A genuine commitment to good governance would prioritize dismantling structural racism and inequality, not merely installing a different manager in the same old mansion. And an authentic diplomacy worthy of a democratic South Africa would project the voices of the grassroots, the workers, the landless, and the youth on the world stage – not the polished platitudes of a career politician with an uncritical affinity for the West. South Africa’s destiny should not be to play perpetual junior partner to Washington, no matter who the ambassador is. Our destiny, as envisioned by Pan-Africanists and revolutionaries, is to chart an independent course, speaking truth to power globally and pursuing justice at home.

The campaign for Tony Leon’s ambassadorship is a symbol of liberal complacency. It is a comfort with mere symbolism over substance – swapping out envoys while the neocolonial scaffolding remains firmly in place. As citizens invested in a real liberation project, we must challenge not only this appointment but the entire mindset that produced it. We must insist that South Africa’s representatives, at home and abroad, be accountable to the cause of liberation – a cause that neither begins nor ends with polite diplomacy in the corridors of Washington. As the saying goes, “no masters, no messiahs.” The people’s emancipation will not be delivered by suave diplomats or elite pacts; it will be won by the unwavering struggle of the people themselves, united in consciousness and action. The sooner we recognize gestures like the DA’s for what they are – elite musical chairs on the deck of a profoundly unjust society – the sooner we can get back to the real work of decolonization and African unity. South Africa deserves better than a recycled emissary of the old guard. It deserves a new generation of revolutionary voices unwilling to “fight back” against change, but instead fighting forward for the truly free and egalitarian Africa we have yet to achieve.

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