Ruby
shines in Asia
South African Ambassador to Thailand, Robina ‘Ruby’ Marks, facilitating a discussion at the UWC ’80s Alumni Reunion in October.
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Bangkok is a long long way from the Cape Town roots of Robina ‘Ruby’ Marks. But it is there that Ambassador Robina Marks represents her beloved South Africa. Despite her hectic schedule, Marks clearly revels in her responsibilities as South Africa’s senior representative in Thailand, Cambodia, Myanmar (Burma) and Laos, as well as Permanent Observer at the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP). Her calendar is filled with hosting events on significant South African holidays and commemorations, hosting dignitaries and other visitors from around Southeast Asia and elsewhere in the world, meeting senior officials from major international organisations and trade delegations, visiting surrounding nations and throwing cocktail parties for influential state and business representatives. Much of her time is dedicated to boosting South Africa’s profile and promoting South Africa as a tourist and investment destination. This might involve visiting the South African stall at an international food and hotel expo, showcasing South African wines at another event, and generally seizing opportunities to put South Africa’s best foot forward. There is not even a Christmas break, Marks said, as Thailand is a Buddhist country. “So it’s business as usual.”
“There is so much benefit in our working together as partners in trade,” she said. “And as a people we are warm, welcoming, culturally rich, and the world finds us a very interesting prospect.” Marks’s enthusiasm for her mission comes from the heart. She is “proudly South African and bringing the brand of South Africa to the world,” she said. Her commitment isn’t new. In her youth she fought apartheid as a community activist and student – she did her BA, BA (Honours) in sociology and teacher’s diploma at UWC. She was detained for trade union activities, and she laboured tirelessly as a gender activist and regional organiser of the United Democratic Front. Once the back of the apartheid state had been broken, democracy offered new opportunities. She worked as a researcher, lecturer and race and diversity consultant in South Africa and abroad. She served as a change consultant to then Deputy Minister of Justice, Manto TshabalalaMsimang, and as head of the Office on the Status of Women in the Presidency. There were also countless international assignments, and she had stints in Ethiopia, Madagascar, Nigeria, Uganda and Zimbabwe. Notwithstanding the glamour of the Bangkok posting, Marks hasn’t forgotten her roots in working-class Bellville.
“When I look back on my life and the trajectory of the life of a daughter of a domestic worker, what I have been able to achieve today has been as a result of a very strong awareness of the importance of social justice, and a refusal to discriminate against people because of their race, sexual orientation and sex,” she said. “I really believe in equal opportunities and I have a very strong sense of life purpose, and that we can and should build a different South Africa. One that celebrates differences and enables us all to live in harmony with one another.” It is a lesson that South Africa can share with other countries, she believes. On behalf of South Africa, she and others are running reconciliation programmes in Thailand, Cambodia, Sri Lanka and other areas. A bust of Nelson Mandela in the Bangkok Cultural Centre is a reminder of that message. “I think that the most important lesson – not only for Thailand but for other countries as well – is dialogue, dialogue and dialogue,” she said at a recent press conference. That’s as much a part of the South African brand as wine and Table Mountain.
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