Hillary Clinton's Meeting With Embassy Staff and Families in Cape Town
Meeting With Embassy Staff and Their Families
Remarks
Hillary Rodham Clinton
Secretary of State
Table Bay Hotel
Cape Town, South Africa
August 8, 2012
Well,
it’s always a pleasure being in Cape Town, and I remember exploring
Cape Town for the first time with Erica, and it’s just wonderful seeing
someone who has loved this city for so long coming back and leading our
consulate. And it’s also especially touching that her husband is leading
our consulate in Durban. And he was with me in Pretoria yesterday, and
between the two of them, they are a dynamic duo for American diplomacy.
I
also very much – yes – (applause) – you can give them both a round of
applause. Thank you. I’m also very, very pleased to be joined by the
Ambassador – Ambassador Gips and Liz Gips, who – Liz Berry Gips, right? –
who is just a terrific partner to the Ambassador in everything he’s
doing on behalf of our relationship with the country. Don and Liz and
their three sons have just made a tremendous difference in connecting up
people to people and in civil society and NGOs, as well as the
day-to-day work between our governments.
And I’m here to say thank
you. Thank you for everything you all do every single day on behalf of
this really vital relationship. I just finished speaking at the Western
Cape University about the importance of the relationship between the
United States and South Africa, not only with respect to what we do
between our two countries, but what we must do throughout the world. And
you are doing an excellent job of carrying our values, promoting our
interests, and deepening our relationship.
Now, I was told that I
came at a heartbreaking time – the Stormers just lost to the Sharks. I
have no idea what that means – (laughter) – but I’m glad everyone is
moving on. We’ll have grief counselors available – (laughter) – for
those of you in the deepest mourning. But your partnership is truly
making a difference, especially in our work on HIV/AIDS. As you know, I
was just at South Delft Clinic having a chance to witness the signing
between the Minister of Health and our Ambassador of our new framework
for implementing the partnership agreement that I signed with Minister
Mashabane two years ago.
Last year in South Africa, more than 1.1
million people received anti-retroviral treatment with PEPFAR’s support.
Seven hundred and twenty thousand pregnant women with HIV got services
to prevent passing on the virus to their babies. More than a half a
million orphans received care and support. And truly, I want to applaud
all of you, every one of you who’s helped to make a difference in the
lives of so many people here.
Now the agreement that was signed
today starts the transition of PEPFAR’s work to South African control.
And this year, this agreement comes after years of collaboration between
our governments working to meet this incredible challenge. But whether
you’re working on HIV/AIDS or building and sustaining relationships with
the South African parliament or hosting groups of visiting American
lawmakers, you are really contributing very directly to this important
relationship at this time.
I especially want to acknowledge our
Foreign Service family members who are here without your loved ones.
Now, I know some of the kids had to go to the third day of the new
school year. I thank those of you who let your children miss school. But
I know you’re missing a lot of other people who aren’t here, and I want
to thank you for them and you.
And to our locally employed staff –
will all of our South African staff raise your hand – all the South
African staff? Well, I want to thank each and every one of you for the
contributions you are making to this consulate. (Applause.) Consul
generals come and go, ambassadors come and go, Secretaries come and go,
but our locally employed staff really provides the continuity. You
provide the memory bank of everything that went before, and we could not
do this work without you as our colleagues working side by side every
single day.
Now, as some of you may know, this post is home our
longest serving locally employed staff member in all of sub-Saharan
Africa: James Brody. (Applause.) Mr. Brody has kept things running for
more than 40 years. And we thank you for your service, your dedication,
and your example. Thank you very much, sir. (Applause.)
So again,
let me say thank you and how grateful I am, and on behalf of myself and
President Obama, I want to thank you for your commitment to representing
the United States so well. I’ve got to admit, though, it’s not exactly a
hardship post. (Laughter.) I’m sitting here with the sun raining down
on my back, looking at the port – you know – (laughter) – it was snowing
in Pretoria yesterday. But on a very personal level, I’m very proud to
be your colleague and to have the chance to represent the United States
at this very important time in the history of this extraordinary
country. Thank you all very much. (Applause.)
