Tribute to South African Greek relations

THE SOUTH AFRICAN OFFICIAL RESIDENCE IN ATHENS

By Dee Vourliotis

Sent in by A van Zyl, Athens, Greece 1998

Amplified by Pete Bower 2016

Exactly 50 years ago the Official Residence in Athens which has served as the home for eleven Heads of Mission was purchased by the South African Government for 8500 gold sovereigns.

The residence was purchased by George Bower and family legend has it that the gold sovereigns were carted off to the seller in a wheelbarrow!

To commemorate this occasion as well as South African-Greek relations in general and to inaugurate the newly-established permanent exhibition centre at the Residence, Ambassador Dawie Jacobs and his wife, Eldaleen, hosted two commemorative functions on 10 and 11 June 1998. Both events received prominent media coverage.

Official relations between South Africa and Greece date back to 1905 when the first Greek Consulate was opened in Cape Town. Another Consulate was later opened in Johannesburg in 1908, while the Greek Embassy was established in 1942. The first South African Diplomatic Mission in Greece was established as a Legation in 1946, headed by Col George M Bower, who served as Charge d’Affaires a.i until 1954. He served under General Frank Theron, who oversaw three missions from his base in Rome, namely Athens, Rome and Madrid.

Bower later served as Charge d' Affaires a.i. until 1956, under Ambassador General WHE Poole who was stationed in Rome, and was also accredited to Greece.

In 1960 the South African Legation was upgraded to an Embassy and General Poole was accredited to Greece as the first resident South African Ambassador.

Immediately after the arrival of Mr Bower in Athens at the beginning of 1946, the search for suitable accommodation for a chancery and residence started. This was difficult to come by as British troops were still in Greece following the end of World War II in 1945.

Bower was the first post-war SA representative in Greece and was an important conduit of correspondence between Queen Frederika (who was my sister’s godmother) and Jan Smuts. He came to be there, and met Pete’s mother, as a result of his being seconded to the British Army after the end of hostilities to quell a communist uprising that occurred around Thessalonika. At some stage he had learnt to speak Greek and so was deemed to be a suitable man for the job. After making contact with the communist command he determined that the best way to stop the uprising would be, quite simply, to buy the communists off with a large sum of money. 

This would need to be procured from the British government, represented at the time in Athens by the British Department of Economic Warfare in the form of Pete’s mother, whose maiden name was Sandberg. So Colonel Bower (the rank is important) flew to Athens to meet with what he thought would turn out to be a little Jewish (Sandberg) minion from London, only to be confronted by Bower’s mother, who was neither Jewish (Sandberg is also a Swedish name) nor little … let’s just delicately say she was statuesque … and who had taken unto herself the rank of Brigadier. The meeting did not go well: she told his father in no uncertain terms that the British government was in no position to part with money to buy off a bunch of communists and, anyway, Bower’s job as a soldier was to fight.

 Romantically, there was also a complication in that Pete’s father was already married with a child in South Africa. Sadly, his wife died of leukemia in 1947 after giving birth to her second daughter, by which time Sandberg was back in London (having been kicked out of Greece by the British ambassador for what he said was a breach of protocol). There was obviously something between them, Col Bower and Brig Sandberg, however, because when her boss at the time mentioned to her that “George Bower’s wife has sadly died” she went back to Greece, met up with him, married him, and Pete Bower the happy result, even if the marriage lasted only a few years before George too died in the Congo. (He had hoped to be sent to Brussels as ambassador but his politics and Englishness made that a bridge too far for the Nats.)

The Legation in the meantime moved into rented space. Eventually an ideal location was found in the prestigious suburb of Psychico situated in the centre of the "diplomatic area". next to the Belgian Legation and opposite the Palace of Queen Mother Frederika, then occupied by the Italian Legation. According to documentation the house was built in 1934 by the owner, who was supposedly the largest building contractor at the time at a cost of approximately £90.000 Sterling. The selling price n 1948 was 8.500 gold sovereigns,. which included agency and transfer fees. The Sterling equivalent in Greece at the time was £78.462.

It is said that General Jan Smuts, a close friend of the Greek Royal family, personally viewed the classical building at 5 Diamandidou Street during a visit to Greece in 1946 to address the Greek Parliament, where he was staying with Crown Prince Paul and Princess Frederika, who lived just across the street from the property.

Family legend has it that Pete’s father was of the habit of taking pot-shots at the Palace pigeons which flew overhead, to furnish the Legation kitchen with the makings of pigeon pie. The sounds of shots being fired so close to the Royal Residence created some consternation among the palace security personnel.

After his inspection of the building, Smuts called the then Minister of Finance (Treasury) to obtain the 8500 gold sovereigns for payment.

The Minister apparently told him that such a large sum was unavailable, especially in gold sovereigns. Smuts, who was afraid that the owner would not wait for the money and as a result sell the property to someone else replied, "Then make them!" The purchase was finally sealed with the handing over of the property deeds to the South African Legation on behalf of the Union of South Africa on 29 May 1948.

In 1951 the Chancery - until then in rented space - was transferred to the basement of the Official Residence, where it remained until September 1968.

Since the purchase of the Official Residence, it has been occupied by the following Heads of Mission: Col G M Bower till 1956; JCH Maree (1956-196 I) both as Charge d'Affaires a i. followed by Ambassadors: Major General WHE Poole (1960-1966); Col NJJ Jooste (1967-1970); Mr P Lindhorst (1971-1973): Mr J Selfe (1974-1980): Mr P H Viljoen (1981-1983): Mr F J Cronje (1984-1989): Dr S G A Golden (1990-1993): Mr P Coetzee (1993-1996): and Mr D Jacobs (1997 to date).

In 1979 a new garage was constructed and the old garage was kept as a garden tool storeroom until 1997 when Ambassador Jacobs obtained permission from the Department of Foreign Affairs to have it renovated to serve as a permanent exhibition centre where the cultural diversity of South Africa's rainbow nation could be on display. It includes, amongst others, paintings by prominent South African artists; arts and crafts which include Nguni beadwork, Zulu woven baskets, Ndebele dolls, wooden sculptures, embroideries made by women from previously disadvantaged communities and a display of historical photographs depicting the history of South African-Greek relations.

The residence had a wonderful spacious attic (in which, incidentally, Nico Spanos had been housed before he was pardoned by the Greek police). My father used the attic as a workshop, and installed a proper carpenter’s workbench. In later times this was used for parties. I know this because when Mrs Bower, Pete’s mother and Pete stayed there as guests of the Joostes in the late Sixties they were shown the attic, which had been cleaned up and was festooned with bunting. George Bower’s workbench was still there.

 The two commemorative functions mentioned above took the form of a formal sit-down dinner on 10 June and a reception in the garden of the Official Residence on 11 June for 80 and 500 guests respectively.

The guest speaker at the dinner was Mr Panayiotis Sgourides, the Deputy President of the Greek Parliament, who paid tribute to South African-Greek relations. A prominent Athenian figure, Mr Ian Vorres, Mayor of Paiania and President of the renowned Vorres Museum, officially opened the permanent exhibition centre. During both these functions the children's paintings from the Santam international children's art competition were put on display on panels surrounding the patio of the Residence, creating a wonderful atmosphere and drawing very positive comments. A harpist provided background music during the dinner, while a Greek choir impressed the guests during the reception with their rendition, not only of Greek songs, but of "Shosholoza'', "Thula Thula Mtwana" as well as the South African National Anthem.

On South African-Greek relations Mr Sgourides, who recently visited South Africa, said that "Greece needs South Africa and South Africa needs Greece". He also expressed the confidence that "South Africa will eventually become the future United States of Africa, a new world leader in politics, commerce and culture".

Mr Vorres, in commenting on the "rainbow nation", quoted the great thinker Reinhold Niebuhr who said that "nothing that is worth doing can be achieved in a lifetime". He noted that the new rainbow nation had proved Niebuhr totally wrong!

A commemorative brochure depicting the history of the Official Residence and South African- Greek relations was especially compiled for and released on the occasion.