The Czechoslovak Divorce - my stay in Bratislava

My stay in Bratislava (Slovakia) from September 1992 till December 1996

Part 2

By Rene Franken

Background:

On 1 January 1993 the Czechoslovak Federal Republic ceased to exist and two separate states were established – the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic. The whole process was successfully carried our in just six months. Two things stand out, one is that the inhabitants of both regions of Czechoslovakia were not at all consulted and secondly, not a single shot was fired in protest or any riots took place. The process that culminated in this separation I have already explained in my Prague memoirs. Suffice to say that it was more economic reasons that this took place than pure nationalism. High Government officials and even President Havel himself spared no efforts to try and prevent this happening.  

The last Czechoslovakian Foreign Minister (a Slovak and later a Prime Minister) told our Roelf Meyer that they decided to separate so that they could join the European Union as two separate states. The economies of both were very different and it would also be easier in the negotiations to join the EU than if a complicated Federal State such as Czechoslovakia, with its two regional parliaments as well as a central parliament in Prague, would do it. There were also external players, especially from German industries, wishing to have a separate Slovakia as this would put them in a better position to participate in any future privatisations. Slovakia had heavy industries, producing primary goods such as iron and aluminium as well as other such as a large paper mill, a large armaments industry producing the Russian T2 Tank, etc. A visit by the German President von Weizacker told the Slovaks before separation that Germany supported the rights of nations to self-determination.

Then there was the Catholic Church which also wished separation as Slovakia was about 86% Roman Catholic, whereas the people in the Czech Republic were both Roman Catholic and Protestant, but the majority were downright Atheist. If Slovakia became independent the Catholic Church would have a Papal Nuncio in Bratislava who would automatically be the Doyen (Head) of the Diplomatic Corps and so give the Vatican an added diplomatic advantage in this part of Central Europe.

Eventually it was the Prime Minister of Slovakia, Dr. Vladimir Meciar, who declared the wish of Slovakia to separate and it as the Prime Minister of the Czechs who confirmed that they would not stand in the way of the separation of the two nations.

Establishing our Mission in Bratislava, Slovakia, 3 September 1992:

Why did we wish a Mission in Slovakia? It was a Political decision and can be traced back to the visit of Pik Botha to Bratislava in November 1990. After a visit to Prague, he also included a visit to Bratislava to have discussions with the Slovaks at the highest level. Vic Zazeraj accompanied the Minister and he told me later that Pik immediately clicked with the Slovaks and felt completely at home with them. He commented to Vic in Afrikaans – “hulle is meer soos ons mense” (Pik found the Czechs somewhat aloft and their world outlook strange). Pik had a good time in the Government Guest House and partied till late night. During this visit he told the Slovaks that South Africa would treat both nations as equals and we would open a Mission in Bratislava. 

The Department was not convinced that this was the right thing to do so soon.  Shortly after Pik’s visit, Nico du Bois was told to be Head of Mission in Prague and he subsequently visited the city in February 1991 to start the arrangements for the opening of a Mission there. I was also told to go to Prague as Second-in–Charge, but to give special attention to our relations with Slovakia. However, we had so much to do in Prague that developments in Slovakia were secondary. Our first goal was to get our Mission, which was initially only a Consulate General, upgraded to an Embassy. This was eventually done in October 1991. At this point the Department was still hesitant to open the office in Bratislava and wanted to wait some more time. Then in June 1992 the announcement was made by the Slovaks that they wanted to separate.

 In August 1992, Neil van Heerden visited Prague and he told us that I should go to Bratislava and open a Mission there as soon as possible, but before 1 January 1993, the date of independence. The idea was to have a Mission with a low budget and get office space and a residence before all the other countries would do the same and there would be a shortage of such places. In retrospect this was the right thing to do as a number of diplomatic staff members and even later Ambassadors had to spend long periods in hotels before finding suitable places. Shortly after van Heerden left, Evert Riekert came to visit us in Prague. 

He looked at our accommodation and as he was visiting the house where I was staying with my family, the van arrived with all my belongings from South Africa. Riekert hinted that I should not unpack all my things as arrangements were under way to appoint me as Consul General in Bratislava. Not long afterwards I received my appointment as Consul General responsible for Slovakia and on 3 September 1992 the Czechoslovak Foreign Ministry handed me the Exequartur, signed by the last Czechoslovak Foreign Minister, Dr. Moravcik, a Slovak who would later become Foreign Minister and Prime Minister in Slovakia, after independence.

Now Dr. Moravcik was a specialist in Constitutional Law and during the last period in Prague he was mostly absorbed with the drafting of agreements concerning the separation of both countries. This was a huge task which he carried out with vigour and dedication. All the common assets had to be divided between both states, a Herculean job. It should be remembered at this point, that all Ministries as well as the Central Bank were in Prague and nothing in Bratislava. Also, all Embassies and Residences were in the name of Czechoslovakia. The first decision taken was that all government officials, who were Slovaks, should move to Bratislava by 1 January 1993 (a special dispensation was made for those Slovak government officials who wished to stay in Prague, to do so in their old jobs). 

This included Diplomatic and other Foreign Affairs Officials. This was my great luck as those officials in Foreign Affairs in Prague, whom we dealt within the Africa section, were all Slovaks. All Embassies and Official Residences abroad were divided. Usually the Chanceries were given to the Czechs and the Official Residences to the Slovaks. Most other assets were divided by the formula out of 3 the Czechs got 2 and the Slovaks 1. This was done as the Czechs were about 11 million and the Slovaks about 5.5 million people. It was also agreed that the Czech Republic would take over most of the Czechoslovak debt. This was done to somehow compensate for all government infrastructure located in Prague and lacking in Bratislava. The last item which I think has still not been agreed upon is the division of the gold reserves in the Central Bank in Prague. 

The Slovaks were adamant that most of this gold was theirs and taken to Prague on a regular basis as Slovakia had some gold mines. It was also decided that Czechoslovak money would stay in circulation for a period of 18 months, to give each time to print new notes. I mention all of this as it did effect us foreigners in Bratislava.

To find a suitable Office and Residence was a very difficult task as these just did not exist. The Department wanted a list of suitable properties as well as estate agents. If this was not serious it would have been the biggest joke in Bratislava, as none existed.

At the time when I moved down from Prague, there were only some East Block Consulates plus the German, Austrian and USA Consulates. The Americans had their own building dating from 1945, which they vacated in 1948, in protest against the communist government in Prague.  This building remained vacant till the Americans took it over again in 1990 and installed their Consulate General there. A hang-over from communist time was a so-called Diplomatic Service Office in Bratislava. 

It functioned before 1990 and was to provide Consular staff with Office accommodation and Residences. This Office was kept after the elected government in Czechoslovakia and Regional Parliaments set up in both Regions. However, this office was controlled by the Foreign Ministry in Prague and there was a similar office there also to assist Embassies. Both du Bois and I visited this office in September 1992 to see if they could help with office space and an Official Residence.

Now, to house all transferred Consular staff, a compound of apartments were built by the Foreign Ministry some years before the fall of communism. The complex was situated up on the hill near the Government Guest House. The apartments were mainly three bedrooms, a lounge, a kitchen and bathroom. They had a marvelous view over three countries, as apart from the Austrian border which was only 3 kilometers away, the Hungarian border was only seven kilometers.  

The apartment block was not the typical satellite blocks as we had become used to in Eastern Europe. It was only three stories, but with no elevators. There were also some Heads of Mission residing there. The Diplomatic Service told us that there was only one apartment empty and that was previously occupied by the representative of Tass, the Russian news agency. 

We looked at this office and decided to refer the matter to Head Office for approval as a Chancery, as it was obvious that if we did not take it, there would be serious problems after 1 January 1993, the day of independence. This apartment would be sufficient to accommodate us. The rent would be very low and we did not have to pay for gas central heating or electricity as the Diplomatic Services took care of this for the whole compound. Now the place was not as representative as we would have liked it to be, but Head Office eventually gave the green light. 

The place needed major interior decoration as it was totally worn out by the Russians who stayed there. However, there was really nobody local available to do this kind of work, plenty workmen but no proper materials such as high quality paint,   laminated floor, doors, etc. All these materials had to be purchased in Austria.

Once we had the rental contract signed, I took the emergency furniture we initially had in the office in Prague to Bratislava. These were the tables, chairs, a sofa and a cupboard, so I could get started. This coincided with the visit of Minister Kraai van Niekerk (Agriculture) and some of his Department,s officials, plus their wives. It was not easy, as I was alone in Bratislava, but somehow we managed. The cars and drivers came from Prague with the delegation where they had been on a visit before coming to Bratislava. Anyway, the Slovaks were very casual and gave the Minister and his retinue a warm reception. To get a phone for the office was no problem and the Diplomatic Services arranged for this in a few days with no cost to us.

To get the office running was quite a job, as I was all alone. My family stayed behind in Prague and for more than one month I commuted between Bratislava and Prague. It soon became clear to me that I required a professional company to do all the interior works, otherwise it would have taken a long time to have all this done. I contacted our Head of Administration in Vienna and he found a reputable Austrian company prepared to do this job. Vienna was only 55 kilometers from Bratislava and this company was already involved with other work in Bratislava. 

A meeting was arranged on site with the officials from the company and because we were still under control of Prague, our Administration officer there, Peter Bolink also attended the meeting and gave valuable inputs. The company prepared all the sketches and gave a quote, which Peter Bolink forwarded to Head office for approval. This was subsequently approved by Head Office and the work commenced in early October 1992. It was finished in early November and ready for occupation. 

However, it was sparsely furnished with the old furniture which had been written off in our Embassy in Berne, and which we initially used in Prague and then taken to Bratislava for me to get started.

The Official Residence was more of a problem. Such places available for rent just did not exist at the time. In desperation I walked up a hill were previously wealthy Austrians lived. The Austrians called Bratislava, Pressburg, the name of town until 1919, when it was incorporated into the new state of Czechoslovakia. There were a number of mansions there but all in a dilapidated state requiring substantial renovations.

Whilst walking up the hill I passed a man and his son seemingly building a house. On speaking to him I was lucky that he spoke fluent German, which I could also do. He told me that he was building a house on the plot which he inherited from his late farther. In response to my question as to how long he would take to finish the job he said that this depended on the money he had from time to time – he was a dentist and his wife a lung specialist. He showed me the inside of the house and it looked like the right place for our Residence in Bratislava.

I suggested that I help him get a mortgage with the Austrian Volksbanken – then the only western bank in Bratislava. One of the senior officials of this bank, whom I got to know as she assisted us in opening an official account with them, could help. I told her we would give an undertaking that we would rent the house for the following four years at a price of DM 2 500.00 per month. For the first six months we would pay in advance, and then monthly. 

This was to enable the owner to finish the house as soon as possible, so I could occupy it with my family, who were still in Prague. He agreed and this was a good deal for us as other residences in Europa were far more expensive. It was not a lavish Residence, but Peter Bolink from Prague and I felt that we should go for it.  He made a submission together with a floor plan, for Head Office approval. 

This was given fairly quickly, as I suspected they were pleased at the low rent and the place would be brand new. In contrast, my second-in-charge rented a smaller house in February 1993, soon after independence, which cost DM 4 000.00 per month. The owner also undertook to have the place fitted with wall to wall carpets and proper light fittings. I moved into the house on 11 October 1992.

The outside of the house was only finished after Christmas and the garage and driveway in March 1993. When moving my family it was arranged that all the furniture, which was bought in Germany for our house in Prague, would be taken to the Residence in Bratislava and we would live with this until the Department sent its own furniture from South Africa.

Other experiences and activities:

Now the fun really started, as it was decided that after 15 November 1992, no Diplomatic Notes could be delivered to the Foreign Ministry in Prague concerning Slovakia. This had to wait till independence on 1 January 1993. Only in very urgent cases they could be delivered to the Protocol Section of the Slovak Regional Prime Ministers Office in Bratislava. Such a case was the dispute between Hungary and Czechoslovakia about the Gabchikova hydroelectric dam project by the Danube River, on the border between Slovakia and Hungary.

It was difficult for the three new Consulates opened in Bratislava since August 1992. This was the Chinese, Belgian and South African. In all three cases it was the second-in-charge who was moved down from Prague and these Consulates were managed  by their from Embassies in Prague, until independence. The odd ones out were the Ukrainians who did everything from Kiev.

The Department sent me furniture for the Official Residence, which arrived in Bratislava via Austria on 5 December 1992. I had to go to Customs to have the consignment cleared. However, there was no formal approval from the relevant Slovak authorities, as there was no Foreign Ministry or anybody else who could authorise this diplomatic consignment. I went to the Chief of the Customs Office in Bratislava to see what could be done. 

I had spoken to the Chief of Protocol in the regional Prime Minister’s Office before and he said that he would speak to the Chief of Customs about this issue and open the door for me. So, I took six bottles of South African red wine and one bottle of whisky with me to the Chief of Customs who was delighted. He put a stamp on the documents and said that after 1 January 1993, I should clear the matter with Foreign Affairs and bring him the necessary documents. 

However, with his stamp on the documents of the consignment, I could clear the furniture and have it delivered to the Official Residence. A week later the Official Car arrived and the same procedure had to be repeated. Looking back I can say it was lucky that I was in Bratislava, a town the size of Bloemfontein, so it was easier to get things done there than what we experienced in Prague.

In September 1992, I started to work in Bratislava and in the beginning I was just on my own. The first task was to recruit a Driver and Secretary – easier said than done. The local Diplomatic Services office said that they could find me a Secretary whom formerly worked in the Czechoslovak Embassy in Pakistan and was fluent in English. I interviewed the lady. Peter Bolink, our Administration Officer from Prague, was also present. 

She, Catarina Neuschelova, turned out to be the best secretary I ever had in my Foreign Affairs career. She was very effective and efficient and knew exactly who to contact to have things done. She also helped my wife with matters concerning the hosting of receptions in our Residence and selecting an appropriate guest list for functions. Her English was excellent. I also had our Embassy in Vienna print all the stationery needed for a Consulate General including visa application forms. I received a safe from Vienna which could serve as a temporary storage space for classified material such as the visa stop list and the rubber visa stamp. On a weekly basis I had a Diplomatic Bag which operated via our Embassy in Vienna.

She also told me that she knew of a suitable driver for our office. The man, Julius Bartischek, spoke good English and German as well as Russian. Before he was many years an international truck driver and transported goods all over Europe, Russia and the Middle East. More recently he had worked for the Casino in the Forum Hotel in Bratislava, chaperoning wealthy guests during their stay in Slovakia. He also turned out to be worth his weight in gold and could complete various administrative jobs as well. 

So, here I was with two very reliable local staff in a difficult situation regarding the setting up of a Mission in a country that was in a transitional phase from Province to Independence. We had to work partly from our Residence with the driver being at the Office every day together with the Austrians who were decorating the Chancery and Catarina and I working out of the Residence. Only once everything was set up, did the South African Administration Officer, Renee Everson, take up her posting late in December 1992. 

We even got a house for her to stay in spite of the scarcity of suitable accommodation.  Renee was on her first posting and in such a strange country which was in transition as Slovakia. However, she coped well and I was there to help having done Administration- and Consular work before in Rio de Janeiro, Munich and Funchal.

Judicial matters – de Facto and de Jure recognition:

Consulates in Bratislava, through their Embassies in Prague, could not send any Diplomatic Notes to the Foreign Ministry concerning Slovakia after 15 November 1992. These matters had to remain until after independence on 1 January 1993. There were the following Consulates in Bratislava at independence – Russia (the largest), Bulgaria, Poland, Hungary, Germany (they took over the previous DDR Consulate), Austria, the USA, and then followed by China , Belgium and South Africa. 

Lastly, there was the Ukrainians working out of a new building which was supposed to host the new German Embassy. Ukraine had also recently become independent after the collapse of the Soviet Union early 1992. There was one Ukrainian diplomat there who seemed to be the Head, but they were not a Consulate yet. He came from Ushgorod, a city on the border with Slovakia. I think he was a Trade Officer, but I found out that he could issue visas for Ukraine. We came to know him quite well, as his Chancery was across the road from us and he regularly gave us and South African business people visas to visit Ukraine.

The most curious thing was the issue of the new Austrian Head of Mission who arrived on 16 November 1992, to take up his post. We were told that he was officially “Charge de Affaires” but not “Ad Interim”. We found this curious as technically the Austrian Embassy in Prague was still in charge of affairs in Slovakia but no diplomatic notes could be sent to the Czechoslovakian Foreign Ministry which was winding down and would not receive any diplomatic notes concerning Slovakia after 15 November 1992. Thus, Slovakia was technically not yet independent but this could apparently done with the special approval of the Prime Minister in Slovakia.

 As 31 December 1992 approached, there was a flurry of activity on the diplomatic  side in Prague and Bratislava. In  the middle of November 1992 all Diplomatic Missions in Prague were informed that it had been decided that as of 1 January 1993 all Ambassadors accredited in Prague, would automatically also be accredited to Slovakia, thus implying automatic recognition of Slovakia’s  independence, unless a notification was received that the Ambassador in Prague would no longer be accredited to Slovakia. 

This implied that most Heads of Mission in Prague, would just continue covering both countries – we called it divided responsibility. The Slovak Government informed us that the Regional Office of the Foreign Ministry would open on 31 December 1992 until 1 am when it would be the Foreign Ministry of the independent  Slovakia to accept Diplomatic Notes advising if there would be any change in Diplomatic Representation concerning Slovakia.  

Since early December 1992, Nico du Bois was onto the Department about our status in Slovakia as we had a Consulate General there and what should happen after independence. There was no response from Head Office, only that Pik and the whole cabinet were on leave and would only reconvene on 25 January 1993. However,at this time we were informed that the Czechoslovakian Embassy in Pretoria would split up with the Chancery remaining with the Czechs and the Official Residence going to the Slovaks. 

Also the Czechoslovakian  Ambassador (a Slovak) would become the Slovak Ambassador to South Africa and the Second In Charge, the Czech Charge de Affairs ad interim. Whilst our legal section were preoccupied with this, Nico du Bois thought he would, after 1 January 1993, automatically be Ambassador to both the Czech Republic as well as the Slovak Republic. The lack of response from Head Office strengthened his view. He was keen to have this option, because he liked to deal with the Slovaks, as all our contacts in the Foreign Ministry were Slovaks who now had to move to Bratislava.  This was the position until 31 December 1992.

At 9 am in the morning on 31 December du Bois received a message from Head Office instructing him to advise the Slovak authorities per Diplomatic Note that as from the next day South Africa would change their Consulate General in Bratislava to an Embassy and I would be the Charge de Affairs ad Interim. This was quite a shock to Nico as this is not what he expected. He called me and said that the Diplomatic Note was being typed and would be taken to Bratislava by his driver. He should arrive round lunchtime. I could then arrange to have the Note delivered to the Slovak Government, which I personally did. 

The thing that struck me was that the Note also mentioned that South Africa was giving the Slovak Republic “de facto” recognition and “de jure” would follow later. Subsequently South Africa only gave “de jure” recognition to Slovakia on 25 January 1993 when this was approved at the first Cabinet meeting in Pretoria. The following Missions in Bratislava also handed over Diplomatic Notes to the Foreign Ministry that afternoon: Germany, USA, Russia, Bulgaria, Poland, China, Belgium, Ukraine and Hungary.

On the evening of 31 December 1992, the Slovak Government hosted a huge reception at the State Guest House to celebrate independence at midnight. There must have been over 200 guests and as from 6 pm long queues were forming to enter the building. It was -14 degrees Celsius outside and I remember my wife complaining that we had to walk some distance from the parking place at the Chancery to the State Guest House, as cars had already blocked most of the entrance. I recall my wife also being angry because she said I was walking too fast – but it was so cold I could hardly speak and wanted to get into the Guest house with her as soon as possible.

Once inside you could feel the excitement of the guests, especially the Slovaks who were witnessing the birth of their State. This is an experience I will never forget and every time since then when I visit Bratislava, after I left the Department, I recall this event as one of the highlights of my career. Also, all our Slovak colleagues whom we knew from the Foreign Ministry in Prague were there. So it was a real party. The representatives from the other ten Missions in Bratislava also attended. We soon had a special bond between us which subsequent new arrivals did not have.

At the stroke of midnight the Slovak National Anthem was played followed by a 21 gun salute fired from Bratislava Castle. This was a gripping experience. Thereafter, we congratulated our Slovak hosts from the Prime Minister, Ministers, high government officials etc., etc. That was a historical and emotional moment in Central Europe. The guests then proceeded to the main square in town were the celebrations went on until the early hours of the morning.

The day after:

 1 January 1993 was a quite a day. The only noticeable difference showing that a new State had been established was that Slovak flags were flying from most homes and apartments.

I went to cross the border into Austria so as to get a stamp in my Diplomatic Passport showing the date of 1 January 1993. It was different to the old Czechoslovakian stamp. All the markings of Czechoslovakia were removed on the border and replaced with Slovak Republic signs. Otherwise there was nothing much happening in Bratislava that day. 

There was a church service later in the morning for everybody who wished to attend including some members of the newly established Diplomatic Corps. The next day was more eventful. On 1 January 1993 the new Czech Government had invited all Heads of Mission stationed in Prague, as well as many other Czech dignitaries to the Castle for a reception. 

That is why the Slovaks decided to host their function on 2 January 1993. As the majority of Ambassadors in Prague were now automatically accredited to Slovakia as well, so they wer also be invited. The reception at the Prime Ministers Office on 2 January 1993 in Bratislava was quite an experience. We were only eleven Heads of Mission stationed in Bratislava and none of us was an Ambassador – only Charge de Affairs ad interim except that the Austrian was only called  Charge de Affairs. 

About 80 Heads of Mission from Prague came that day to attend the reception in Bratislava.  A number of us did not have our drivers, as these were on leave. I walked to the Prime Ministers Office and on entering the building I saw the wife of Austrian Head of Mission driving their official car and after her husband got out of the car, an official told her to drive to the parking lot where all the other drivers were gathered. I think the official did not realise that she was the wife of the Austrian Head of Mission.  Wives were not invited to this reception so he could not have realised who she was. For us it was a hilarious scene. 

The Prime Minister, Dr Vladimir Meciar, greeted all Heads of Mission personally and had a short discussion with each. I have to mention that there was no President, either in Prague or in Bratislava and the Federal Parliament in Prague disbanded on 31 December 1992. Not being Ambassadors, we were last in the queue – the whole process took about 3 hours. What impressed me about Dr. Meciar was that after speaking to all Heads of Mission, when it came to my turn he said that he was pleased that South Africa had the courage to open a Mission here when many others of the more important European countries did not do so. 

They thought that Slovakia was a backward country and would economically suffer due to the separation of both States. He also said that we could count on him to support our actions in Slovakia, as well as internationally. What amazed me the most was that he said that we could now advance with our Bilateral Agricultural Treaty as well as the Visa Exception Agreement which du Bois discussed with him during our visit in October 1992. Now, with over 80 Heads of Mission he talked to, how could he have remembered this detail?. I later found out that this man had an outstanding memory and attention to detail – he reminded me of our former Secretary for Foreign Affairs, Brand Fourie, who also had these qualities.

 Later, during the reception Meciar held a fiery speech mainly on Slovakia’s short-, medium- and long term goals. He did this without any paper. I came to experience him as a person who never had a paper when giving speeches. He had a strong personality who for many years was the Youth Leader of the Slovak Communist Party. He was a boxer in his young days as well. However, after the fall of communism his views became more moderate and he could be called a moderate left-winger. The next day, the euphoria about independence was starting to fade and it came to the nitty gritty of establishing the new State and also our relations with this new country.

Establishing the new Slovak Republic:

At independence Slovakia had no Parliament, only a Regional Parliament, which ceased to exist on 31 December 1992. The new Parliament (former Regional Parliament) convened on 3 January 1993 and approved its own creation. It also agreed that the former Speaker, Adv. Ivan Gasparovich, would be Speaker of the new Slovak Parliament. 

We soon came to know him well. He later visited South Africa as guest of our Parliament (Senate) arranged by Minister Kobie Coetzee, who had visited Slovakia in the meantime. There were still no Ministers, no Defense Force, no Finance Minister, no Justice Minister, no Foreign Affairs Minister, no Central Bank, etc., etc. It was decided that all former Regional Ministers would just be made Ministers. However, shortly afterwards Dr. Meciar changed his Cabinet and presented them to us at a special reception and gave us an opportunity to meet them and have a short conversation.

Now, the task of establishing all government institutions was much more complicated in Bratislava than in Prague which already had all of this infrastructure from the Federal time. The required office accommodation was there in Prague, but in Bratislava new suitable ones had to be found. 

The Slovaks had already identified some buildings, but many of them were run down and required major renovations. Some of these buildings were thus considered as temporary, such as Foreign Affairs which was just next to the railway station and a typical neglected communist building. For years after the Slovaks used this building as their Foreign Ministry before eventually moving to a more representative place.

 A new budget was passed with speed by the new Parliament and it was clear from this that Slovakia would be prudent with its expenditure. This pointed to a good economic policy and no funds were wasted on extravagance.  Because of the perception created in Prague before independence that Slovakia was not an economical viable state and would soon suffer economically, the Prime Minister gave special attention to trying to rectify these negative perceptions. Of course those who knew better were not affected by this perception.

Added to Slovakia’s problems was that of the Hungarian minority.  About 15% of the population in Slovakia was ethnically Hungarian and most lived in an area next to the Danube close to Bratislava. The Hungarian Government thought that a weakened Slovakia could give them a gap to obtain more rights for their people in Slovakia than they had before in the Czechoslovakian Federal Republic. Alas, it quickly transpired that this was not going to be the case, as they had not reckoned with the Slovak Prime Minister who took no nonsense. Things quickly got heated.

But of more immediate importance was the Danube Gabcikovo Hydroelectric Dam Project on the border of the two countries.. This project had already been approved by Czechoslovakia and Hungary in communist time. In the final phases of Czechoslovakia, the Hungarians then declared that they were cancelling all agreements concerning this dam with Czechoslovakia and requested that the contract to build this project be cancelled, that all work be stopped and the matter referred for arbitration by the International Court of Justice. Here they misjudged the determination of Dr Meciar who decided to continue with the works and get the best civil and mechanical engineers in Germany to complete the project in record time, despite the Hungarian actions and threats.

The Hungarian Charge de Affairs in Bratislava, Mr Jeno Borros, who had already been in Bratislava as Consul General for some time and who just had his status changed to Charge de Affairs, had warned his government of this issue of the Dam project. He was an excellent diplomat, probably one of the very best Hungary had, He found himself in a very intense and difficult time, sitting in the hot seat between both countries’ governments. Even the Slovaks had the highest respect for him and he got on well with Slovak Government officials. At this time Hungary had a fiery Nationalist Government and Slovakia a Socialist Government. It was later said that the Slovaks had the best engineers and the Hungarians the best lawyers.

The mega dam project turned out to be of major economic benefit to Slovakia as it produced about 10% of the country’s electricity. It also had a sluice so that flooding could be contained and shipping pass though at all times, as the water level could be controlled. The original Danube River was diverted, so that the whole waterway was now in Slovak territory and the original river now a dry river bed in Hungary. 

These problems with Hungary kept the Slovaks on their toes. Slovak Foreign Ministers came and went in short time as Dr. Meciar was not happy with their complacent handling of Hungarian Affairs vis-a-vis Slovakia. Then Dr Moravcik was appointed as Foreign Minister and things changed and calmed down a bit.  He was a professor in Constitutional Law and we knew him form our stay in Prague as he was the last Czechoslovakian Foreign Minister. He was also signed my exequatur as Consul General in Bratislava in September 1992.

Very soon after Independence, normality returned to the diplomatic scene and normal day-to-day life in Bratislava. The first thing that took everybody by surprise was the issue of continuing using of Czechoslovakian banknotes in Slovakia. These banknotes were supposed to be valid as legal tender for 18 months from date of independence.

However, shortly after independence a rumour spread that Slovakia was going to have to drastically devalue against the Czechoslovakian Krone otherwise there would be economic collapse. The rumour was devoid of all truth, but suddenly bank notes started to disappear from the streets of Bratislava and went by lorry load to Prague.   In a few days there were hardly anymore Czechoslovakian banknotes to be had in Bratislava. Drastic action had to be taken and as we could not make any cash payments. Both the Czech and Slovak Governments came up with a unique solution.

The army was called in as well as other Government officials and all Czechoslovakian Bank notes recalled and taken to the Central Bank in Prague. Round the clock, officials and army staff were recalled to divide theses notes according to the formula 2 to 1 (as were divided all assets of Czechoslovakia). 

A specific Czech stamp was affixed to the notes referring to the Czech Republic, and the other got a Slovak stamp. The notes with the Slovak stamps were then sent to Bratislava and the new Slovak Central Bank distributed them to the banks in Slovakia according to their needs. This was all done in a period of about one week. In the meantime the Slovaks got Austrian Schilling Banknotes which we could get from the Banks in Slovakia and could use as legal tender according to a fixed rate determined by the Central Bank. Promptly, the Slovak currency was devalued by 10% against the Czech money and so it remained for a couple of years until Slovakia joined Euro currency zone in January 2008. 

Despite all the rumours spread about the Slovak economy, during and after the separation process, it is still today (2016) the only country that has the Euro currency in that region of former communist states such as Poland, the Czech Republic and Hungary. About three months later both the Czechs and Slovaks had received their own new bank notes, the Czech notes being printed in London and the Slovak notes in Paris by the well know companies that did this kind of specialised work. This was a clear sign that both countries were now starting to follow their own economic goals.

Promoting of Political- and Socio Economic relations with South Africa:

We were very lucky that the Diplomatic staff serving in the Africa section of the former Czechoslovakian Foreign Ministry in Prague were nearly all Slovaks, so on separation of the two states they were all in Bratislava. Of course, we already had excellent relations with them before, so I was not a stranger to the new Slovak Foreign Ministry. Before independence all Slovak matters were handled by the Czechoslovakian Foreign Ministry in Prague as well as by their Embassy in Pretoria. 

On separation the Czechoslovak Embassy in Pretoria was divided in two – Chancery became the property of the Czech Republic and the Official Residence went to Slovak Republic. The Czechoslovak Ambassador in Pretoria became the Slovak Ambassador to South Africa and the Counsellor of the Czechoslovak Embassy (a Czech) became the Charge de Affairs of the Czech Embassy. So when I became the South African Consul General in Bratislava on 3 September 1992, there was already movement to strengthen our bilateral relations. There was also a Slovak community in South Africa totaling about 7000 persons.

Most of the activities taking place were visits of high level officials both ways, as well as journalists and other important business people. Being only 52 kilometers from Vienna city centre visitors to our Embassy there could easily visit Bratislava as well. One could take a day trip and Vienna airport only 38 kilometers from Bratislava.  To mention just a few – we had the visit as guests of our Department, the Rector of the Comenius University in Bratislava (Prof Swetch) and his Vice-Rector (Prof Devin). 

We had a group of Slovakian journalists, joined by a group of Czech journalists as Internal guests of our Department. SAA also made a contribution by settling the air tickets. On their return a brochure was printed by Satour as suggested by the journalists after their South Afria visit, which aimed specifically at the Czech and Slovak tourists to South Africa. Also, at the same time Austrian Air started with two direct flights a week to Johannesburg which soon proved very popular. We had the Speaker of the Slovak Parliament (Adv Gasparovich) visiting South Africa as guest of the Senate (Kobie Coetzee). The Slovak Foreign Minister, Mr Hamzik, visited South Africs as did the Defence Minister.

From the South Africsn side there were a number of visits that we also were directly involved with. A delegation of senior Denel officials, followed by the visit of our Deputy Minister of Defence, Ronnie Kasrils,and Dr Stals of the South African Reserve Bank. A delegation of the SA Senate, a separate group of SA Parliamentarians, Prof Chris Barnard, a group of senior staff of ISCOR to visit the largest steel works in Central Europe in Kosice, Eastern Slovakia, a group from SA Breweries who wished to take over certain Slovak beer factories which they subsequently did, Minister Roelf Meyer, Mondi SA who wished to have a joint venture with the largest paper mill in Central Europe and NCP (owners of Sasol) who wished to  have a joint venture with the Slovakia Sugar Institute to have access to the process (patent) of using molasses to produce Citric Acid.

We also had a Bilateral Agricultural Agreement signed with Slovakia as well as the Visa Agreement allowing for Visa free travel for Slovaks to South Africa and South African visitors to Slovakia. The latter caused some initial confusion as our border control officials did not know the difference between the Czechs and the Slovaks at our airports. Czechoslovak passports were also still valid for 18 months after Independence Day.

The Visa Agreement was not easy as there was pressure from some Slovaks, as well as from the Czechs and countries such Austria and Germany to streamline visa exemption agreements. In this regard the Czechs refused to have a similar agreement with South Africa as did the Poles. To have the green light for this Visa Agreement, I had to go to one of most well-know Spa (hot water Spring) in Slovakia and talk with the Minister of Internal Affairs. I spent some time with him there in the enclosed spring. It was like a big sauna and smelt like rotten eggs. We South Africans are not used to this kind of relaxation.  The Slovak Ambassador in South Africa also made an input as he was from the same political party as the Minister.

Trade matters soon increased and it was arranged that one of our Trade Attaches in Vienna, would also be accredited to Slovakia. He was Ras Singh, a very dedicated official and full of energy. To visit the large companies (mainly factories) we arranged that I would ask for appointments with the CEO’s of these companies and he would accompany me on these visits. This way we saw the most important centres of Slovakia.

One of the factories which we visited was the paper mill. It was the largest in Central Europe. I had an unexpected visit of the top board members of “Franstach AG” in Vienna. When asking for the meeting they said that is was confidential and did not want to mention it over the telephone.  The Chairman of the Board and his Vice Chairman came to my residence for lunch so they would not be seen in a public place. It was explained to me that the Austrian company actually belonged to Mondi SA and thus one of the Anglo American group of companies. 

They wanted very much to participate in the privatisation process of the Slovakian Paper Mill, but there were a few other horses running for this as well. As I was the South African  Ambassador they would like any advice from me as to how they could go about clinching the deal. They did have a lobbyist in Slovakia, but at that time relations with the Prime Minister’s Office and the Austrian Government were a bit stressed. 

What I did was first to talk to the new Slovak Foreign Minister, Mr Hamzik, and he told me that he would shortly go to South Africa and during his visit, Minister Alfred Nzo could also raise it with him. Because all large privatisation matters were really controlled by the Prime Minister, I should try and see him personally. This was really a commercial issue, but as it was a South African multinational company, 

I felt that we should take care of our interests first. I then had a meeting with the Prime Minister, Dr Meciar. He was back in power after a while in opposition. He received me, as always in avery friendly and relaxed way, and first he wanted to know how things were developing in South Africa. I then mentioned the issue of the Austrian company bidding for the privatisation of the paper mill and said that it really was part of Mondi SA. I mentioned the name of the person in Bratislava who was the Austrian firm’s lobbyist. Dr Meciar responded that he was aware of this person and his advice was that the Austrians should continue with the process via this person. 

Meciar said that he now had a clearer picture of the background of the Austrian company. The next day the Austrian Ambassador visited me at home and wanted to know how the meeting with the Prime Minister went. He was probably in touch with the Austrian gentlemen who visited me before. In the meantime I asked Reinhard Mostert, Director in our Foreign Minister’s Office to put this item on the Minister’s agenda when Minisiter Hamzik meets Minister Nzo in Pretoria.

The departure:

As always with us, all good things come to an end and I had to return to South Africa. Pieter Vermeulen took over from me. I went through the normal saying goodbye to the people I knew - the Prime Minister, Foreign Affairs, etc., and my colleagues in the Diplomatic Service. Just before leaving I got an unexpected call from the President’s Office. 

He would like to see me and also say goodbye. I should come the next day at 11:00. Very unsuspecting, I turned up there the next morning and to my surprise all the senior personal from the President’s office were waiting for me, and also members of the press. I should have realised that something was going to happen, because I had to take along my wife, all the SA transferred personal, Renee Everson (admin), Theunis du Toit (counsellor) and his wife. I was told that it was decided to bestow on me an award of the Slovak White Cross, Second Class, for all the efforts done to establish and improve South Africa’s relations with Slovakia. 

I was told that I was one of the few foreigners, so far, to receive this Award. I was stunned but quickly recovered my composure. The President and his wife were introduced by me to my South African staff members. The President then made a speech on why he was bestowing this award. After this I had to reply. No time to prepare anything, but lucky for me there was a translator from English to Slovak. So, with every few sentences I had a few moments to prepare my next words. 

The President then put the medal over my shoulders and the press were taking pictures. This whole ceremony was very moving for me. We all had a glass of champagne and a chat. Thinking that everything was over, I was again surprised when the President told me he was inviting all of us to a private lunch. This included all the SA staff and their spouses as well as his staff. This was the first time he did this with foreign diplomatic staff on their farewell, until then. 

We all had a very nice lunch and this went on for some time. By the time we got back to the office it was already 16:00. I had immediately to call Reinhardt Mostert in the Ministers Office to tell him what happened as there was obviously no time to get prior Head Office approval. He replied not to worry as he would inform Rusty Evans and the Department would get ex post facto approval from the President’s Office.

This day was a moving experience for me and it was with a very sad heart that I left Slovakia shortly afterwards. Most of us probably had the same feeling when completing a tour of duty but for me the Slovak posting was very special one as it was more personal due to the few Embassies there up to then and due to having experienced the growth of a new nation in Europe. It was as if we were one big family.

Fortunately, I had the privilege to have visited the country a number of times afterwards, but I could see that so many developments had taken place since I left that the very family feeling and being part of a process towards statehood in that country and the people there, is something of the past.     

                           

The Czechoslovak divorce - two nations in transition

Part 1

Rene Franken

This is a story of my memories during my nearly six year stint in Czechoslovakia, from 1991 to 1997. During this time remarkable events took place in Central Europe. It proved to be one of the most interesting parts of my diplomatic career, but also at the same time a difficult one, as it entailed the process of the opening of two Embassies.

BACKGROUND:

For some time in recent history Czechoslovakia had a turbulent past, being wedged between the Germanic world and the Polish and Russian Slavic world. It was also constantly under influence from them.

The modern state of Czechoslovakia only came into existence in 1919, after the end of the First World War. The principle of the right to self-determination of nations, led to the Czechs in the territory called Bohemia and Moravia, which was until then under the Habsburg rule from Vienna, and the Slovaks, which were partly under the Habsburg and Hungarian rule, to decide in a referendum to come together as a new state called formally “The Czech and Slovak Federal  Republic”.

The Czechs and Slovaks are closely related with two different languages, but the difference is not that great. They are both Slavic languages. The difference between the two arose because of historical reasons.

The Czechs were governed from Vienna before 1919 and for a long time it was part of the Habsburg Empire – the most wealthy and prized part of the Habsburg Empire, with the capital city of Prague. This part was only independent for a short time from 1919 to 1938, before it was annexed to Germany as part of Hitler’s new German Empire. The last gunshots of the Second World War fell silent only on 9 May 1945 when the German Army occupying Bohemia laid done their arms to the Russian army. A plaque, a short distance from Prague, marks the place where the last shots were fired. After 1948 the Soviet Communist influence prevailed in Prague until November 1989.

Present day Slovakia was partly occupied and governed from Vienna, for some time till 1919, but another part was part of the Hungarian Empire and governed from Budapest till 1919. This was the wealthy part of Hungary as important factories were situated in this part of Slovakia as well as important trade routes crossed through Slovakia. This was the envy of its neighbours for many centuries. What was strange is that Hitler granted independence to Slovakia and this was the first time they were on their own, until April 1945, when the Russians occupied it. The Germans had built large ammunition factories in the mountains of Slovakia which the Russians expanded and these factories are still there to the present day. It then fell under Soviet influence and was again incorporated into the former Czechoslovakia, until it became independent on 1 January 1993, on the break-up of Czechoslovakia which ceased to exist after this date.

OPENING OF OUR MISSION IN PRAGUE, MAY 1991

After the unbanning of the ANC in February 1990, the whole of Central and Eastern Europe was open to us and it was decided to open Embassies in many of these countries. Minister Pik Botha had visited a number of those countries in November 1990. A number of Heads of Mission were subsequently identified and sent out in February 1991 to their respective countries to make the initial introductions and make some practical arrangements re: search for suitable office space and residences for Heads of Mission. The following countries were earmarked, Hungary, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Bulgaria, Rumania and the Soviet Union.

Always a cautions nation, the Czechs only permitted us to initially open as a Consulate General. I remember arriving early in May 1991 in Prague, with no visa and nobody to meet me on arrival. So, I had a lot of explaining to do, but the Immigration Official was very courteous and helpful. After this, I had to take a taxi to a small hotel on the outskirts of Prague as all hotel accommodation in town was fully booked due to the annual Prague spring music festivals, with concerts every day and evening somewhere in town.

Our Head of Mission was Nico du Bois, who had arrived some days earlier. He had arranged with the Czechoslovakian Foreign Ministry that I would receive my visa on arrival, but he could not meet me on arrival from Munich because he had an important meeting with the Czechoslovak  Minister of Trade and Industry. Once at the hotel (it was more of a Pension), but a neat place with the owner being very helpful and friendly, and speaking fluent German. She explained to me how to get to the nearest subway station and what lines to take to the Intercontinental Hotel in town were du Bois was staying. She also explained what machine at the subway station to use, which button to press and which coins to enter to get a ticket. I mention all of this as signs were only in Czech, so this experience was definitely not for beginners.

After unpacking, I proceeded to the subway station with a suitcase full of stationery which I purchased in Munich, the day before, on request of du Bois. Being completely disorientated, I did as I was told and drew the metro ticket at the right machine and took the underground, with a change in line, and finally I arrived at the correct metro station nearest the Intercontinental Hotel. My arms were already getting stiff as the suitcase was heavy, but luckily du Bois was already back from his meeting and I was relieved to see him. I had to take a Czech Beverovka ( “regmaaker”) but did not realise that this was such a strong alcoholic drink.

This first contact with Czechs did leave some impressions on me. They appeared to be a very closed people, not always open to discussion with strangers and very much on their own. On my first arrival at the metro station, I could not see them talking to each other. On waiting for the metro most were reading something. Once travelling in the metro, they were again reading and it was remarkably quiet. I soon learned that they must be the most literary people I have ever seen. They were neat people with fine facial features. However, I later also found them very reliable and once they weighed you up, they would opened up completely. For example, Mr du Bois was even invited to President Havel’s weekend house for a visit, where his wife Olga did most of the talking as her English was good and President Havel prepared some snacks in the small kitchen. There was only one other person amongst them and I presume that this was his private secretary. I mention this as not many other Heads of Mission in Prague had this privilege in that time.

Apart from Nico du Bois as Consul General, there was myself as Consul and Betsie Smith as Vice Consul, being the three line function officials. A few days after my arrival Betsie came and also had to stay at the Pension outside town till the end of May 1991.

Now, the fun really started. We were all working out of a du Bois’s bedroom which only had a round table and four chairs. It was decided by du Bois that I should purchase a broom, vacuum cleaner, a table with six chairs and take it to the Chancery so we could get started there as soon as possible as we could not meet anybody in such circumstances as what we had in the hotel.

On his previous visit to Prague in February 1991 the Czechoslovakian Foreign Ministry offered du Bois a four floor villa for our Mission. The villa was renovated with new wall to wall carpets, etc., and would suit our purposes quite well. They also offered him another villa, likewise renovated and only one house away from our Mission, as an official residence. This was originally offered to the Australian Government, but they turned it down. So the next day I went to the Villa by subway with the key and looked inside. Everything was OK, but a bit dusty. I ventured into the surroundings looking for a broom, a waste bin, if possible a vacuum cleaner and other small cleaning materials and detergents. This process took me half a day – there were hardly any shops there and you had to order what you wanted, then pay for them and collect the goods at the exit of the store and this all in Czech with body language from my side.

Anyway, I completed the assigned task and started the next day to look for a table and six chairs. Now this was a real challenge as shops in town did not keep such pieces of furniture on their premises – you had to order and they would deliver them, but this could take some time. In despair I checked the taxi drivers stationed at the Intercontinental Hotel and found one who could speak a reasonable English and who was prepared to take me to a place outside Prague were such furniture was made. It took some time and with a lot of luck we found a suitable table with the six chairs, which they offered to deliver the next day. The next day they delivered them, so now we were getting somewhere.

 News quickly spread that we were in the Intercontinental Hotel and because South Africa had  Czech and Slovak communities, people turned up to see us. Du Bois and Betsie had to receive visitors in the hotel lobby. Among those was a Czech lady, Mrs Olga Batskova, who had lived many years in South Africa and had recently returned to Prague with her two sons. She was in all respects suitable as a secretary for du Bois and she had just started when I arrived. I must say she also had to improvise a lot to get the Mission moving. Apart from working for du Bois, she also had to help me and Betsie. So it was really tough going and to give du Bois the credit he deserved, he was a strategist by nature, very well motivated and goal orientated, and a real go getter. He was also somewhat impatient and not the savvy type of diplomat.

We clearly remember the day he had an appointment with the Czechoslovakian Minister of Trade and Industry and he arrived at Ministry, in Grasshopper (veldskoene) shoes, 20 minutes late. Nevertheless, the Czechs and Slovaks respected his straight forwardness and integrity. I have to mention here that he was a political appointee and had served in this role before as Consul General in Munich. I had also served in Munich, but as number two, but just before his tour of duty.

Betsie Smith was a really hard worker, also well motivated and concentrated on the information side of the Missions work. In du Bois’s earlier years he also served as Information Attache at our Embassy in The Hague. Both were like rockets, but aimed in different directions, so it was imperative that they not share the same office and we moved from the hotel to the Chancery premises as soon as possible.  Now, du Bois, quite rightly said he was not moving unless he had a functioning telephone working at the office. So the next step was to arrange a telephone connection. The Foreign Ministry advised that they had no line there in the short term and that telephone lines were at a premium as there was such a big demand. In the end of the day we had to purchase a connection privately so we could install the telephone in the Mission. Within three days we got the line and I waited for the technicians to install it in the office allocated to du Bois.

Mrs Batskova could now move to the new Embassy and together we ordered four more tables with matching chairs as well as six cupboards with shelves. Whilst waiting for them, a Russian man walked in and said he wanted political asylum. He said he was a senior person from the KGB and would not leave the Embassy. Now luckily our phone had just been installed and I could get hold of du Bois who was still working from the hotel. He subsequently called Head Office who advised that we should make the gentleman comfortable until further notice from them. I showed this person that he could not stay in this building, there was nothing and not even hot water yet. He had to leave at six as we would close the place if no more news was received in the meantime. I knew that up to then South Africa did not, as a rule, provide political asylum. Then, just before six I received a call from somebody in our Embassy in Paris who spoke to the Russian and told him to return at a fixed date and time. With this info the gentleman luckily left and returned a few days later at the arranged time. The South African turned out to be from our counter-intelligence and he spoke to the man in one of our empty offices with just a table and some chairs.

This whole episode delayed du Bois, Betsie and the Trade official’s (who had also arrived in the meantime) move to the Mission by some days.

It was a wonderful experience for all of us to be able to work together from the Mission. We had space and although the offices were still bare we had a place to put our things and get properly started.

The next issue to address was getting money to pay for our day to day expenses. There were no credit cards or cheques yet, everything had to be paid in cash. Luckily du Bois and I had arranged bank accounts with the Dresdner Bank in Munich, the staff of which we both knew well from the time we served there. Our salaries would be paid in there by our Consulate General in German Marks. Also, all our subsequent office purchases we made in Munich, and this was a lot, were paid for by our Mission there. As we were only a Consulate General all our stationary was printed as such.

On arrival of our Administration Officer (Peter Bolink), we could arrange with Head Office and a Czech Bank in Prague, to have money deposited and drawn on a Czech account. But it took a while before cheques and credit cards were introduced. We were becoming increasingly dependent on the services of our Consulate General in Munich as this was also the closest to us and a lot of commuting took place. Du Bois was in daily contact with the local staff at the Munich office and because he had recently served there, he knew who could do what.

This led tension with the Head of Mission, Martin van Niekerk, whom gave instructions that no local staff member as to arrange anything for us without our speaking to him first. This complicated things for us, as we were getting a lot of supplies and even some furniture for our Chancery and Residence in Prague. Furthermore, our salaries were to be paid by the Munich office into our bank accounts there. So we had cheques and credit cards from the Dresdner Bank in Munich, which helped us a lot.

Luckily Martin left shortly afterwards and was replaced by Danie Fourie, whom du Bois and I both knew very well and things became a lot easier. Once the office furniture eventually arrived from South Africa, du Bois commented that this was not a Shebeen and he instructed Peter Bolink to organise appropriate furniture, which he then ordered through Peter Justesen without the approval from Head Office. Our Embassy in Bern also sent us some furniture, which they had written off and which we could use in the meantime.

Once we had everything in place later in the year we received a notice from the Czechoslovakian Foreign Ministry that both villas were returned to their former owners and we had to deal with them direct concerning any further rentals. It must be remembered that in the communist time all private property was nationalised by the state. Luckily they agreed to continue with the same conditions as the rental contract we had with the Foreign Ministry.

OTHER ACTIONS

In this initial phase, we left Betsie Smith to attend to our information work, which she tackled head on and soon we were having a lot of exposure to the Czechs and the Slovaks. They were keen to know what was going on in South Africa, which was in transition, as they had also experienced recently a dramatic change from a communist dictatorship to a democracy. She had to draw up an emergency distribution list for the South African main news clippings sent to officials in the government we knew,  as well as to universities, etc. She also dealt with a Czech, Mr Kubes, who was prepared to organise a Czechoslovakian/South African Friendship Society, through which we could also expand our connections and information publicity. 

However, he was later exposed as a communist collaborator when his name appeared in a local newspaper naming a list of collaborators, which was very embarrassing for us. Betsie, furthermore identified a group of important persons whom we would later send to South Africa as guests of our Department. In the end she had to do all the organisational work for the newly created Friendship Society. This was also not a task for beginners and she put a lot of effort into her work, in difficult circumstances in the initial stages where we had a lack of many things.

In the meantime we also had a stream of important South Africans visiting Prague, as this was a famous world city. The first was Mrs de Klerk, who came in July 1991 to officially open the Mission. We still had no furniture in the Official Residence and we had to rent chandeliers, organise curtains for the reception area, etc. Du Bois’ whole family, his wife and four school-going children, were still residing in the hotel, which was a very difficult time for them. Mrs du Bois had to go to Weiden, just across the border in Germany, to buy all the canapés we needed for the reception. Du Bois and his wife had to improvise a lot, but the function went off very well.

                                                                                          *

Mrs Marike De Klerk officially opening our Embassy in Prague

On the political front du Bois wanted to have our Mission status changed from a Consulate General to an Embassy. A Consulate General was at a much lower protocol level than an Embassy. This was going to be a tough nut to crack as the Czechoslovakian Foreign Ministry was very cautions on the outcome of the negotiations between the South African Government and the ANC. The only way around this was to get their Foreign Minister who was also the Deputy Prime Minister, Jiri Dienstbier, to go to South Africa and see for himself. After numerous visits to senior Foreign Ministry officials and seeing the Minister himself, it was eventually arranged for him to go to Pretoria in October 1991. Du Bois went to South Africa a few days earlier, so he could put Pik in the picture.

Now the unimaginable happened. When Mr Dienstbier went to see Pik, the latter convinced him to sign a diplomatic note to immediately upgrade our relations to Embassy level. We all know that Pik could be a difficult man, but when it came to South Africa’s interest he would move heaven and earth.  He also had a particular charm with foreigners and I presume he used this to convince Minister Dienstbier. The latter was very impressed when he saw Pretoria and was probably also looking forward to opening their own Embassy in Pretoria, as soon as possible.

I was informed of this in the afternoon and urgently went to the Czechoslovak Foreign Ministry Chief of Protocol as well as the Head of the Africa Division, to advise them of the new situation. They were already informed of this decision by their delegation which accompanied their Foreign Minister to South Africa, and I suppose that Minister Dienstbier spoke to President Havel by telephone from Pik’s office. The reason that I went so soon is that our Mission was now upgraded to an Embassy.

There was now a protocol issue in that I was now suddenly a Counsellor and “Charge’ d’ affaires ad interim” until du Bois’ return from South Africa. 

Betsie Smith became a first secretary. With du Bois, it was decided that he would remain behind in South Africa for some two weeks, so that he could regularise his new position as “Charges d’affaires” and get an endorsement to this effect in his diplomatic passport and other administration actions related to our new Embassy. A Charge d’Affaires is accredited to the Minister of Foreign Affairs and an Ambassador is accredited to the Head of State. We were now on equal footing as the other Embassies in Prague. It took us five months to get to this position since we established the mission.

After du Bois’ return from SA, there was a flurry of activities of officials and others, both ways.

The Czechoslovak Foreign Ministry decided to send Mr Frantisek Dlhopolcek as their first Ambassador to South Africa. He was Head of the Africa Division in their Foreign Ministry, a Slovak and former Ambassador in Harare. So knew our part of the world well and we were very happy for his appointment. He was particular helpful in the establishment of our mission in Prague and we were subsequently in regular contact with him once in South Africa.

He also knew Paul Coetzee and John Mare, respectively Chief Director and Deputy Director of the Central and Eastern European Desk at Head Office, very well before we opened our Mission in Prague, so this also proved to be helpful. Once he left we had Frantisek Hudac in the Africa Division, also a Slovak, who went out of his way to help us where he could. By a chance of fate, I would once again deal with both of them in Bratislava, when I was transferred there after the break-up of Czechoslovakia and all Slovak diplomats in Prague also had to move to Bratislava.

Another important task we set ourselves as a goal, was to sign a bilateral “Agreement on the Protection of Investments” and a “Double Taxation Agreement”. This moved very slowly mainly because it appeared that our Finance and Trade officials in Pretoria were suddenly overloaded with such requests from all the new countries which opened their doors to us. Du Bois decided to push the matter and got hold of Mr Eltie Links, our Consul General in Zurich, to visit us so that we could discuss these two Agreements and see what he could do. He was the Representative in Europe of the South African Department of Finance. He subsequently came to Prague and discussed draft agreements on these two very important issues with his counterparts here.

Simultaneously, Betsie was very active in getting South African cultural people to visit Prague to perform. One such a concert which she arranged and which stood out, was the visit of the Drakensberg Boys Choir to Prague. Czechs were very interested in culture. Iitwas an important part of their life and especially music stood out. Betsie took care of all the arrangements and had posters made promoting the concert, which were put in strategic places in Prague city. She also invited all our contacts as well as other influential personalities to the concert with a reception afterwards.

The concert was held in one of the famous Prague theatres. The concert hall was packed to capacity and the equivalent to our Director General of Foreign Affairs, who was a violin player, also participated in the concert. The evening was a great success with the audience spellbound to their singing. Even Betsie and we from the Embassy as well as Eltie Links, who was in Prague at the time, were emotionally carried away. The Drakensberg Boys Choir was made up of all races in South Africa. They first sang the traditional classical songs which already had the audience expressing their admiration by applause for some time.

After half time they sang South African songs as well as traditional African songs which really caused the audience to applaud so much as to make opera singers jealous. At the reception afterwards the Czechs could not stop praising their performance and many said they found them even better than the Vienna Boys Choir. I told Betsie that this one information action did more for South Africa’s image in Prague than any amount of information material published or guests visiting South Africa.

The next was Czechoslovakian Prime Minister Marian Calfa’s official visit to South Africa. He went with the government’s own plane and with a substantial delegation. Now interesting enough Mr Calfa was a Slovak and the last Prime Minister in Czechoslovakia in the communist time. He just continued in the same job only with a new President Havel. Mr Calfa first went to Israel for a visit and then from there to Johannesburg. 

They were under the impression that they had clearance to fly over Sudan, but the plane was refused entry over Sudan airspace. They had to make a wide detour and only arrived in Johannesburg a few hours late which put the whole official programme in some difficulties. Frantic telephone calls were made to find out what happened when they did not arrive on time. Anyway they all had a good visit to South Africa and had a lot of praise for the bold decisions which were taken by all sides. As far as I can remember we signed some bilateral agreements as well.

Another out-of-the-normal experience we had was with the issue of du Bois’ “ Agrement and Letters of Credence”. Once Minister Dienstbiers’ visit to South Africa was over we had to get the approval of the Czechoslovak Government to agree to him as South Africa’s Ambassador to Czechoslovakia. 

This process could take some time, but somehow du Bois was able to have this process done quickly. However by the time we had the Agrement the South African cabinet was already on their December holidays. Only our President could sign the Letters of Credence nominating Nico du Bois as South African Ambassador. The cabinet would only have its first meeting late in January 1992. Du Bois had to make frantic telephone calls to our Protocol Section to have the documents prepared and ready for submission to the Cabinet. There was some urgency in the matter as President de Klerk was scheduled to make a state visit to some Central European countries viz., Poland, Hungary and Czechoslovakia in February 1992. In would indeed look very strange if du Bois was still a Charge d’ Affaires during the visit of our President. Despite promises it would seem that near the end of January 1992, the document was still not signed by our President.

Now things were getting really difficult as an appointment had to be made for du Bois to present his Credentials to President Havel  within the next five days. Otherwise it would be too late. I remember that on the end of January 1992, we had to make a frantic late afternoon call to the President’s office and find out when the document could be signed by President de Klerk. We were lucky to get Dr Jannie Roux, the Director General in the Presidency, on the line and du Bois told him of the urgency in the matter. Dr Roux said he would go to the President’s Office and tell him to immediately sign the document and he would call us back. This he did after some 20 minutes which seemed to us a long time.

A subsequent call was made to our Chief of Protocol to urgently have Pik also counter sign the document the next day and to fax a copy to us. We would think of a way to get the document in Prague quickly. It was decided that Bestie Smith would fly to Zurich and meet Gert Nel from Head Office in the international transit hall on his way from SA to Warsaw.

It was clear to us that we may not have the original document in our hands before the arranged date set for the ceremony with President Havel for presentation of the Credential. So Du Bois and I proceeded to visit the Head of President Havel’s Protocol, Mr Egon Ditmar together. We showed him the fax and remarkably he told us not to worry. If the original document did not arrive in time we could put the fax in our Embassy special envelope and just hand it over to President Havel. The latter does not open it but at the handover, he passes it on to the Chief of Protocol who will know what is inside. This is exactly what happened.

Prague just before Nico du Bois presented his credential as Ambassador to President Havel. The persons are from left to right Tommie Classens (Trade) then Nico , me , Betsie Smith and Peter Bolink (Admin)

This was quite a serene experience as this took place in Prague Castle, a striking building on top of a hill overlooking the whole of Prague, in one of its many magnificent halls. Interesting enough the Chancellor to President Havel, Count Karel Schwarzenberg accompanied both du Bois and President Havel during a separate meeting where they were alone. I presume Schwarzenberg was also the translator as President Havel could not speak English that well.  

      

 I heard later from du Bois that the discussions went really well in a relaxed atmosphere. They also briefly touched on the impending visit of President de Klerk to Prague. Now interestingly enough, I see that Count Schwarzenberg is today (2012) the Czech Foreign Minister. He is a direct descendent of the Austrian Habsburg nobility who reigned in Prague for centuries.

The next was President de Klerk’s visit to Prague, which took place from 6 to 7 February 1992. It was the high point of our first two years working in Prague. It was a proper state visit with all the ceremonies, etc. There was a special manual on state visits which had to be meticulously followed. Fortunately, the Czechs were fully conversant with such visits and had everything planned to the minute with all the meetings and visits well organised. As it was a state visit, President and Mrs de Klerk were housed in the Prague Castle, together with their suite (personal entourage). President Havel greeted the couple on arrival at Prague Castle’s main entrance gate. 

He was there some minutes before the cavalcade arrived and the most catching moments were President Havel smoking a cigarette amongst the crowd gathered at the Castle gate. Lucky for me, du Bois and I only had to follow up the programme of President de Klerk and his direct suite which also included Pik, as well as Paul Coetzee and John Mare from head office plus Llewellyn Crewe- Brown, our Chief of Protocol.

Poor Betsie had to take care of the large South African press contingent (55), which had accompanied the President in his plane and that is usually the most difficult task of state visits. The only big problem we had initially with this group was to arrange a 24 hour direct special telephone line in the Hotel where they were staying, for their exclusive use. It cost Peter Bolink a case of whisky to have the technicians install the line urgently.

After settling down President Havel received President de Klerk in a One-on-One meeting. In the meantime our delegation, led by Pik and theirs, led by Dienstbier, met in one of the magnificent meeting rooms of the Castle for talks. This was very general with Pik explaining developments in South Africa. and Dienstbier touching on Czechoslovakian internal and external developments – the position of the two regional governments and his view that they should not separate as two independent states. Increasing trade and the position of the Czechs and Slovaks living in South Africa, as well as the question of cooperation in the weapons industry, viz., Denel and the Slovak weapons factory were also mentioned briefly. Later on both de Klerk and Havel joined in the discussions.

After this, a working lunch was served and in the afternoon Count Schwarzenberg took us to President Havel’s office in the Castle. This was a real eye opener as the office was decorated in an “avant garde” style with the most weird furniture and decorations – there was an upside down toilet painted purple, some tubes painted green and yellow stripes on the floor and walls. Even the telephone was astonishing. Count Schwarzenberg commented that this was how President Havel wanted it. He also showed us the scooter in the corner of the office, which Havel used to commute through the passages of the Castle so as to be able to reach all his staff. The Castle was a rectangular building and from one end all around, could be nearly one kilometre.

The next visitors to meet de Klerk, was the Prime Minister of Czechoslovakia, Mr Marian Calfa,  followed by the Chairman of the Czech National Council, Mrs Buresova and the Prime Minister of the Czech Republic, Mr Pithart. This was followed by the Chairman of the Slovak National Council, Mr Miklosko and Mr Carnogursky, the Slovak Prime Minister. These last two meetings were themself controversial as our Desk officers, Paul and John did not want these two meetings to take place at all. We should not interfere in their internal politics was their view, but both Pik and du Bois had a better understanding of the situation on the ground and so both meetings took place.

 These two meetings went a bit deeper and our future relations with these two regional governments were discussed. I could not help seeing the previous situation which we experienced between the regional President of Madeira versus the Prime Minister of Portugal. The Czechs said that separation was a very likely scenario. Likewise, the Slovak Prime Minister, who was also a conservative, said he did not think Slovakia was ready for independence yet. This was to cost him dearly in future as he was voted out in the next regional election in Slovakia and he never really recuperated politically. In any case President Havel said to de Klerk that he would not accept the separation and be part of it, even if it meant that he would resign as President.

Later in the afternoon President de Klerk and entourage went on a walk through the Wenceslas Square, were the Soviet tanks demonstrated their presence in 1968 during the Prague Spring uprising . The place was packed with spectators wishing to see de Klerk. The roads were closed around the square. Hands were shaken. A wreath was laid by President de Klerk at the statue of St Wenceslas and flowers put down at the Jan Palach memorial site (he burned to death during 1969 ). That evening President and Mrs Havel hosted a state banquet in the Prague Castle for all the guests and President and Mrs de Klerk, plus invited guests from Havel’s side.

In the meantime Betsie was having her hands full with the press group. Vaugh Dewing was the leader of the group with Casper Venter, President de Klerk’s press spokesman. When the Press meeting was held with Havel and de Klerk, questions were focused on any military co-operation between both countries. What I remember is that it was later reported in the South African press that one journalist lost his pants during a visit by the group to a local Cabaret club in Prague at night.

When the delegation left Prague for Warsaw there was a sigh of relief, but with the knowledge that this state visit gave our bilateral relations a big boost as well as our Embassy’s standing among the diplomatic missions in Prague.

Then one day in June 1992, there was a flurry of activity over the radio and TV. We switched on our Embassy TV and there was President Havel announcing his resignation, with immediate effect. This, after the Slovak Prime Minister announced just before, on TV that Slovakia would be independent soon.

The general mood in Prague was one of disbelieve and very sad as President Havel was enormously popular among the Czechs. This was not so unexpected as a few days before this event the Czech Prime Minister called al Heads of Mission together and said that the Czech government would not stand in the way if Slovakia wished to be independent. However, it was not expected so soon. There was no doubt in our minds that we were experiencing dramatic events in Central Europe.

After this eventful day in June 1992, there was nothing more in the way of the break-up of Czechoslovakia into the independent Czech Republic and Slovak Republics on 1 January 1993, for the second time in history.

Some years later President Havel, who became the first Czech President after the split up, said in public that it was the biggest mistake he made to oppose the separation of Czechoslovakia, as both states soon turned out to be better off – politically and economically.

THE SEPARATION OF THE TWO NATIONS AND THE ESTABLISHMENT OF OUR EMBASSY IN BRATISLAVA - SLOVAK REPUBLIC, ON 1 JANUARY 1993 – “de facto” versus “de jure” recognition – a headache for our Head Office.