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mercantilist’, 238 or ‘revolutionary’ vs. ‘pragmatic’, with officials representing theapartheid state symbolised by the latter labels, and those who had participated in theliberation struggle represented by the former.The DFA as an institution was furthermore burdened with tensions surrounding theattainment of racial and gender equity. According to Alden and le Pere, “By 2000while most of South Africa’s career diplomats were black the total (non-politicallyappointed) staff complement of missions abroad remained skewed: 40% were blackand 60% white”. 239 With the appointment of ANC stalwart Alfred Nzo as the firstpost-apartheid foreign minister, the department was further perceived to be lackingin dynamic and assertive leadership. The institution, from a broader governmentpoint of view, had been weak and un-influential historically. This was especially thecase since the early 1980s when PW Botha’s State Security Council became thelocus of much of South Africa’s foreign policy decision-making in its campaign ofmilitary coercion across its borders. In addition, already evident in the last decade ofapartheid “[p]arliament played no role in foreign policy and the role of Cabinettended to be limited to acquiescence or approval’”. 240During the transition, “[the Ministry’s] internal divisions and inertia, together withcompetition from other actors, conspired…to make it peripheral to the shaping andinfluencing of policy during the Mandela years”. 241 Alden and le Pere characterisethe multiplicity of actors attempting to shape, determine and implement policy asthe main problem afflicting South Africa’s foreign policymaking in the immediateaftermath of apartheid. Nathan adds that some of these actors, particularly theapartheid-era officials “repudiated the need for a comprehensive and systematicforeign policy”. 242 This resulted in a foreign policy that was frequently characterisedas being ‘ad hoc’, ‘haphazard’, ‘inconsistent’, ‘ambiguous’, and lacking in238 Alden and le Pere, 2003: 14.239 Ibid., 14.240 Sole, Donald. 1994. ‘South Africa’s Foreign Policy Assumptions and Objectives fromHertzog to De Klerk’, in South African Journal of International Affairs, Vol. 2, No. 1, p.104, cited in Alden and le Pere, 11.241 Alden and le Pere, “South Africa’s Post-Apartheid Foreign Policy”, 15.242 Laurie Nathan, “Consistency and inconsistencies in South Africa’s foreign policy”,International Affairs, 81, Issue 2 (2005): 361.116