ANTONY PHILLIPSON | Global volatility gives new value to old friendships

I left South Africa last week after five years as the UK’s high commissioner.

When I presented my credentials to President Cyril Ramaphosa in October 2021, I told him it was a professional honour to represent my country in South Africa and a personal privilege to do so in the country where I had been born 50 years earlier. Both have most definitely turned out to be true.

I am proud of the work that we have done with so many South African stakeholders through our partnerships on inclusive economic growth, skills, climate and the energy transition, health, science and technology, tackling gender-based violence, and more.

All rest on a deep sense of trust built with ministers and officials at national, provincial and municipal level. And on a commitment to working together to understand the challenges South Africa faces, design solutions to them, and then implement them, together.

Making our shared goals a reality also rests on a range of key players: our implementing partners for programmes, international allies and, crucially, the private sector. The best example of where this has come together is our work with France, Germany, Denmark, the Netherlands and the EU — the “International Partners Group” (IPG) — to support South Africa’s ambition for a just energy transition.

With my IPG colleagues I was pleased to pay a farewell call on electricity & energy minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa just before I left my post. We reflected on the progress made over the five years of our just energy transition partnership that was launched at COP21 in Glasgow in November 2021. There is clearly much more to do, but the sense of momentum is clear, and investment and other financing are starting to flow, including from the private sector.

In November 2022 Ramaphosa was the first head of state to be invited to make a state visit to London by King Charles

A focus on boosting UK investment has been a constant theme of our work. The UK is the biggest international investor in South Africa, directly supporting more than 100,000 jobs and, indirectly, many more. It’s been a pleasure working with the many UK companies here. I would like to commend both the British Chamber of Business in Southern Africa and the South African Chamber of Commerce in the UK for their significant contribution to this vital link between the two countries.

While there have been many highlights of the engagement between our governments, three stand out. In November 2022 Ramaphosa was the first head of state to be invited to make a state visit to London by King Charles.

As well as celebrating the modern-day relationship between South Africa and the UK at the highest level, new partnerships were announced on science, health, gender equality and other priorities. Royal engagement continued after that with visits to South Africa by the duke of Edinburgh (January 2023), the prince of Wales (November 2024), and the princess royal (January 2025).

There was another historic moment last year, when South Africa chaired the first G20 summit in Africa. As well as working closely with the hosts across the many ministerial tracks, we were pleased to welcome the prime minister Keir Starmer, foreign secretary, chancellor of the exchequer, and a number of other ministers and senior UK officials for bilateral programmes.

It was a wonderful showcase for all parts of the country. Visits to the square kilometre array radio telescopes in the Northern Cape and the development ministerial in Skukuza in the Kruger National Park were particularly memorable.

Alongside all of the G20 activity, Ramaphosa and Starmer co-chaired the eighth replenishment of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria, illustrating our shared commitment to global health action to fight these diseases.

Then, most recently, we were delighted that South Africa agreed to cohost the Global Partnerships Conference in London in May this year, along with the UK, British International Investment and the Children’s Investment Fund Foundation.

This brought together governments, business leaders, philanthropies, and civil society focused on improving access to finance, speeding up access to knowledge, skills, and technology, and putting countries and communities at the heart of solutions to global challenges.

There was a particular focus on ending violence against women and girls, which has long been a priority for both South Africa and the UK. It was a great way to build on our engagement through the G20 year.

As I said to President Ramaphosa in October 2021, it has been a professional honour to be part of this work, and more, over the past five years.

In an increasingly complicated world, it is vital that we build what my foreign secretary calls “agile alliances” with such countries as South Africa, a key leadership voice in both the Global South and global organisations such as the UN, World Ttrade Organisation, World Health Organisation and, of course, the G20. We need to be conscious of our shared history, as well as focused on the future.

And, as I also said to the president, it really has been a personal privilege to be here. My wife, Julie, and I have loved exploring the country. We will miss the warmth of the people as well as the weather.

We have made many firm friends, and we will definitely be back. Until then, I will certainly be keeping an eye out for developments here and I am sure that my successors will continue the important partnerships we have in and with this wonderful country.

• Phillipson is outgoing UK high commissioner.