Drugs, booze and fraud: SA's undiplomatic reps abroad

South Africa's high commissioner to Singapore is not alone when it comes to foreign representatives engulfed in a scandal.

Treating domestic workers badly‚ being drunk at an international event‚ lying about not having a matric certificate‚ paying workers badly and drunk driving cases – these are just some of the skeletons that have tumbled from the closets of our representatives abroad.

Fifty-five-year-old Hazel Francis Ngubeni was outed at the weekend for being a convicted drug trafficker who served jail time in the US for smuggling a bag of cocaine. The South African Airways cabin attendant-turned diplomat neglected to mention this to the State Security Agency when she took up her post abroad.

South Africa spends around R3.2 billion on its diplomatic missions across the globe‚ it was revealed in parliament in 2015.

South African diplomats were embroiled in two separate cases of drunken driving recently in Norway and Fiji.

Booysen Dombo‚ the first secretary at the embassy in Oslo‚ Norway‚ refused to be breathalysed after crashing into a car driven by a paramedic whose hip was broken earlier this year.

Theodorus Mostert‚ corporate services manager at the South African high commission in Suva‚ Fiji‚ crashed into the car of 26-year-old Ashneel Singh in October 2015. Singh died as a result and his family is still seeking compensation from the South African government.

Pretoria refused to hand them over to their host countries for prosecution‚ citing diplomatic immunity. Mostert has since passed away.

Former crime intelligence boss Major-general Chris Ngcobo — who lied about having a matric certificate — was earmarked to be South Africa’s ambassador to Mali but resigned from the Department of International Relations after refusing to take a state polygraph test about whether he had ever lied‚ misrepresented facts or committed fraud‚ reported the Sunday Times.

• Home-bound diplomat 'ducked lie detector test'The man who was meant to be South Africa's ambassador to Mali walked out of a state security polygraph test and then sat at home for months while pocketing a reported R72,000 monthly salary. 

He sat at home for months after the incident‚ pocketing a hefty salary‚ before quitting.

Thobeka Dlamini‚ as chargé d’affaires in the South African embassy in Dublin‚ landed in hot water more than two years ago when she was accused of paying her domestic worker‚ whom she had brought to Dublin from Pretoria‚ four times less than the country’s minimum wage.

Dlamini‚ at the time‚ said she would claim diplomatic immunity.

A similar stand-off appears to be underway as a lawyer representing South Africa's high commission in New Zealand cautioned authorities there about potential "diplomatic repercussions" if they heard the case of domestic worker who was allegedly unfairly dismissed.

Patience Komla was sent packing in March by high commissioner Zodwa Lallie over a text message.

Tami Sokutu was fired as chair of the South African Biodiversity Institute when he arrived to welcome guests‚ drunk‚ at the Chelsea Flower Show in London‚ where he was meant to be welcoming guests in May 2013. He was also too intoxicated to be allowed near guests at a party after the show at South Africa House.

Department of International Relations and Cooperation spokesman Clayson Monyela told the Sunday Times: "Sokutu came to the mission a day before the function highly intoxicated and insisted that he be allowed access to the function. The security informed him that the function was to be held the following day‚" said Monyela.

• Sbu Ndebele faces recall as ambassador over corruption allegationsFormer transport minister Sbu Ndebele faces an uncertain future as this country's ambassador to Australia - as government mulls moves to remove him from his diplomatic posting in Canberra because of corruption charges. 

"On the day of the function Sokutu's name was not only not on the list‚ but he was‚ according to security‚ again highly intoxicated when he arrived."

Former transport minister Sbu Ndebele‚ high commissioner to Australia‚ is due to face fraud and corruption charges later this year over allegations of R10-million bribe related to his former portfolio in transport.