Broderick Welcomes Visiting Ambassador

Acting President John R. Broderick (right) and Ambassador-in-Residence Bismarck Myrick (left) welcomed Welile Nhalpo (center), South African ambassador to the United States, to Old Dominion University during the Africa@ODU festivities held on campus Oct. 16.

Prior to his current post in the United States, Ambassador Nhlapo served as South Africa's ambassador to Ethiopia, permanent representative to the Organization of African Unity and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, and also served as South Africa's non-resident ambassador to Djibouti, Eritrea and Sudan. In 1997 he was appointed as South Africa's special envoy on Burundi.

Born in Johannesburg, Nhlapo was active in the South African Students Organization where, together with the late Steve Biko and Tebogo Mafole, he co-authored the publication "Black Review," which covered the activities of black organizations at the time.

He went into exile to Botswana in 1974 and joined the African National Congress (ANC), after having been served with a banning order in 1973. After many years with the ANC in various capacities, Nhlapo joined the Department of Foreign Affairs and was part of the South African delegation to the U.N. General Assembly in New York when South Africa was readmitted to the world body in 1994. Most recently he served as director in the Africa division in the department of political affairs at the United Nations.

For more information about this year's Africa@ODU celebration, visit http://www.odu.edu/ao/news/index.php?todo=details&id=12407