Glenn Babb

Family

Glenn Babb was born in Johannesburg to Eric Ware Babb and Ora Constance Loverock and was educated at St John's College, Johannesburg, a private school for boys. His great-grandfather, Charles Doering, came from a prominent Ontario family (United Empire Loyalists) which owned the Doering Stock and Dairy Farm in Chesterville, Ontario. Charles Doering with his brother Frederick became the first dentists in Johannesburg. Frederick famously gave dental treatment to the imprisoned Leander Starr Jameson and his men after the Jameson Raid. Charles sent his son, Lawrence Doering, to St John's College as a founder pupil in the Union Grounds. Five generations of his family have attended the same school. At St John's he was made Head of House and won the trophy for the best Drum Major in the Witwatersrand Command band competition. Glenn Babb married Tracey Dibb on 31 May 2003. Babb has two sons and two daughters.

Early career

Babb worked as a schoolteacher in 1964 before continuing his education at Oxford University (Lincoln College). In 1967, he joined the Department of Foreign Affairs where he produced the book "Prison Administration in South Africa" while in the legal division of the Department. In 1969 he had his first overseas posting when he was assigned to the South African embassy in Paris where he served as secretary for three years. During this time he was made Chairman of the Young Diplomats Association of Paris. He returned to Pretoria in 1972 and was Training Officer with the Department. He authored the book "Training for the Diplomatic Service". In 1975, he returned to Paris where he was the embassy's counsellor and then in 1978, he moved to the South African embassy in Rome. Here he was asked to play cricket for the first Italian international team against the Indian Globetrotters and played in two matches. In 1981, he again returned to South Africa to become head of the Africa Desk at the Department of Foreign Affairs and held that position for four years.

Ambassador to Canada

Babb's mission as Ambassador to Canada began in 1985 while South Africa was in crisis and international pressure on Pretoria was mounting. Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney threatened to break off diplomatic relations with the country when he spoke at the United Nations.

During his two-and-a-half year posting, Babb appeared on Canadian television more than 132 times and even more frequently on radio. He heavily lobbied politicians, journalists, intellectuals and universities in support of the Reagan Administration's policy of "constructive engagement" rather than sanctions or divestment. Babb referred to apartheid as a relatively "benign policy" and a means of controlling "urbanization" and claimed that sanctions would harm South African blacks more than the white minority. He also said of sanctions, "Whether you shoot the zebra in the white stripe or the black stripe," he said, "you are going to kill the zebra." He claimed that the disruption of mineral production in South Africa was in the interests of the Soviet Union and that South Africa was the only force standing in the way of an expansion of Soviet intervention in the African continent.

Many of Babb's appearances across Canada were met with protests. In 1985, when he was speaking at the University of Toronto's Hart House, anti-apartheid activist Lennox Farrell hurled the debating society's ceremonial mace at him. In Montreal, when entering the private Mount Stephen club to give a speech, club members and Babb were pelted with eggs and snowballs by protesters who called him "racist scum". In 1986, Babb appeared on the CBC Radio program Sunday Morning to debate Montreal human rights lawyer Irwin Cotler. The appearance was picketed by 50 anti-apartheid activists.

He was interviewed by the famous Jack Webster in Vancouver who told him: "You're doing very well, laddie". Elizabeth Grey of CBC spent a day with him and submitted her report for the broadcasting prize of 1985. His first interview after arrival in Ottawa was on "Crossfire" which immediately launched public interest in his frank and direct approach to what he regarded as the Canadian misapprehensions about South Africa's future. Southam News' E Kaye Fulton followed his activities through Canada for a week and wrote a thought-provoking article which caught the nuances of the South African diplomacy in transition.

In an article in Fortune, Babb compared South Africa's treatment of its black population with Canada's treatment of Native peoples. "The media reaction was phenomenal, and some Indian leaders said I was on the right track," said Babb retrospectively. Accepting an invitation by Chief Louis Stevenson, Babb made a high-profile visit to a First Nations reserve, the Peguis Band in Manitoba, with media in tow, in order to press his point. Thereafter, delegations from the Indian representative body, the Assembly of First Nations, visited South Africa and gave credence to the view that there was indeed a comparative advantage for South African blacks.

In 1987 he addressed the Royal Military College, Kingston, Ontario on the "Strategic Value of South Africa".

Return to South Africa

In 1987, Babb was recalled to South Africa to take over as head of the Africa division and deputy director-general of the Department of Foreign Affairs. As such, he initiated, after a meeting with President Sassou Nguesso of the Republic of the Congo, the Brazzaville talks for the withdrawal of South African troops from Angola and ending the country's involvement in the South African Border War.

In the 1989 general election in South Africa, he entered politics as the ruling National Party's candidate in the electoral district of Randburg. He was the first ever National Party candidate to share an election platform with a black., President F.W. de Klerk made a point of visiting his constituency during polling day. He was eventually defeated by Wynand Malan, co-leader of the liberal Democratic Party. He was nevertheless appointed to a seat in the South African parliament by F.W. de Klerk who, as State President, had the constitutional right to fill four seats in the House of Assembly of the South African Parliament through direct appointment. While in Parliament, he formed the Felix Trust to promote peaceful race relations in South Africa. Its first Trustees were Wendy Ackerman,Aggrey Klaaste, Peter Bedborough, Danie le Roux and Thijs Nel (and later Pieter Toerien: it donated a fountain "Peace in Africa" to the University of Pretoria, built ceramic housing with an innovative heating process and nominated Thuli Madonsela, Public Protector, for the Civil Courage Prize in New York where for the second time ever the Train Trust awarded an Honorable Mention to her.

Babb subsequently left parliament after two years, in 1991, and returned to the Department of Foreign Affairs, serving as South Africa's ambassador to Italy where he opened diplomatic relations with Albania, Malta and San Marino and was appointed the first South African Permanent Representative to UN Food and Agriculture Organisation since 1963.

He participated 1991-1992 in the Mozambican peace negotiations in Rome between RENAMO and FRELIMO under the aegis of the Rome Sant' Egidio community and his role is mentioned positively in Sant' Egidio's report on the success of the Peace Protocol. During his ambassadorship in Rome, he was nominated to be South Africa's Commissioner at the Venice Biennale in 1993 and 1995. South Africa participated for the first time in three decades again in 1993 with an impressive exhibition of several artists' work called "Incroce del Sud" which received good reviews. He was also appointed in 1991 by the Board of the Non-Catholic Cemetery in Testaccio as the administrator of the cemetery and presided over the 200th anniversary of Shelley's birth - both Shelley and Keats are buried in the cemetery.

He also served as Commissioner of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission in Italy.

In 1995 he left government service. In 1995 he became chairman of AGIP Lubricants.

In 1998 he was appointed consultant to the government of the Western Cape and he continued in that role till 2002. In 1998 he was appointed Honorary Consul General of the Republic of Turkey with jurisdiction for the Western, Northern and Eastern Cape Provinces. In 1999 he arranged Profumo d'Italia Flavour of Italy with the approval of the Italian Ambassador and the Italian-South African Chamber of Commerce and Industry at the V&A Waterfront, a wide-ranging promotion of Italian goods which included a masked ball, two nights of opera, a gondola on the harbour, stands for Maserati and Alfa Romeo, two Italian film stars, Franco Nero and Claudia Pandolfi, who opened the Italian film evenings, Italian music in the Amphitheatre and Italian cooking and cheese-making lessons. Two million people visited the event.

In 2010 he authored the monograph "Abubakr Effendi - A young Turk in Afrikaans" relating to the work of the Islamic scholar sent in the 19th Century by the caliph to instruct the Muslims of the Cape. He has also been active with various business pursuits such as long-lasting milk [PARMALAT], oil lubricants, manufacturing, a tourism service, manufacturing wine vats and owning an office support and internet service. In 2005, his firm Babrius was appointed by the Secretariat of the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of Countries [ACP] aligned to the EU to write a report, "Study on the Future of the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of Countries" which was published in French and English by the ACP in Brussels on 13 February 2006

Babb was chairman of the Owl Club, from 2006 to 2007, a gentlemen's club, in Cape Town.

In January 2009 Babb was shortlisted for the position of Chief Executive Officer of NEPAD in the African Union.

In December 2012 he published an article in the African Yearbook of Rhetoric on rhetorical action in diplomacy with specific reference to the relative fortunes of Indians in Canada and indigenous peoples in South Africa which led to an interview on the CBC.

In July 2014 Babb was appointed chairman of the Ethics Committee of Southern Wind Shipyard and non-executive director of the company.

In September 2015 Babb organised the international Sol d'Oro Southern Hemisphere Olive Oil competition in Cape Town which ended with a gala prize-award evening at the residence of the first Italian ambassador to South Africa, Casa Labia. It was attended by the Premier of the Western Cape, Helen Zille, and the Minister of Agriculture, Alan Winde.

He was elected Chairman of the Muizenberg Historical Conservation Society in December2016.

Publications

Babb has published short stories and poetry, articles on legal subjects, and numerous other reports and articles, including: