Ambassador Ndumiso Ntshinga is the Acting Head of Mission at the Embassy of South Africa in Washington DC. He is a distinguished career diplomat who retired from public service in December 2022. He previously served as Deputy Director-General for Africa at the Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO) from 2019 to 2022. During his tenure, Ambassador Ntshinga coordinated the hosting of African Union-led peace talks between the Government of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia and the Tigray People Liberation Front which was held in South Africa from 23 October to 2 November 2022. The successful talks led to the cessation of hostilities in the Tigray region of Ethiopia.
From 2013 to 2019, he was the Ambassador of South Africa to Ethiopia (also accredited non-resident Ambassador to the Republic of Djibouti) and served concurrently as the Permanent Representative to the African Union (AU) and the UN Economic Commission for Africa. During this period, Ambassador Ntshinga also served a two-year term as the Chairperson of the AU Permanent Representatives Subcommittee on General Supervision and Coordination on Budgetary, Financial and Administrative Matters. In addition, he served as Chair of the AU Peace and Security Council (PSC) and played a key role in facilitating cooperation between the AUPSC and the UN Security Council.
Before joining the Embassy in Ethiopia, Ambassador Ntshinga served as South Africa’s High Commissioner to the Republic of Kenya (also accredited non-resident Ambassador to Republic of Somalia), Permanent Representative to the UN-Habitat in Nairobi, Kenya, and Permanent Representative to the UN Environment Programme in Nairobi, Kenya.
He was previously Ambassador to the People’s Republic of China (also accredited non-resident Ambassador to Mongolia and Democratic People’s Republic of Korea) from 2006 to 2010. Ambassador Ntshinga further served as Deputy Director-General for Americas and Europe.
He was posted to the South African Embassy in Washington DC from 1995 to 1996 where he served as Deputy Head of Mission.
Prior to the advent of democracy and freedom in 1994, Ambassador Ntshinga was the Chief Representative of the African National Congress (ANC) in Australia and New Zealand from 1991 to 1994 and the Assistant Chief Representative for the same region from 1988 to 1991. Prior to that, he served as the Administrative Secretary of the ANC in Tanzania from 1986 to 1991.
Ambassador Ntshinga holds a Master’s degree in Law from the University of Sofia, Bulgaria. He was born in 1958.
February 22, 2024 at the The Hay-Adams Hotel