The Ambassador of the Republic of Austria to South Africa is the Republic of Austria's foremost diplomatic representative in South Africa. As head of Austria's diplomatic mission there, the ambassador is the official representative of the president and government of Austria to the Prime Minister and the government of South Africa. The position has the rank and status of an Ambassador Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary and the embassy is located in Cape Town.
The embassy's area of responsibility also includes the Republic of Angola, the Republic of Botswana, the Kingdom of Lesotho, the Republic of Madagascar, the Republic of Mauritius, the Republic of Mozambique, the Republic of Namibia, the Republic of Zimbabwe, and the Kingdom of Eswatini.
History
The embassy in South Africa opened in 1955. Its jurisdiction includes several countries in Southern Africa for which there is no embassy of its own.
The Consulate General in South Africa was located in Cape Town but was closed in October 2010. The Austrian Embassy in Harare (the capital and largest city of Zimbabwe) was closed on 1 January 2012 for security reasons, and its jurisdiction was divided between the embassies in Pretoria and Nairobi, whereby Pretoria also took over the representation for Zimbabwe, Mozambique and Angola.
Austrian Ambassadors Name Term start Term end Notes → (, , , , , )Wilhelm Görtz19551959Eduard Schiller19591962Franz Rader19621964Acting Ambassador from 29 December 1962 to 18 March 1964Adolf Heinrich Hobel19641968Previously Ambassador to Bulgaria and Finland; later to ChilePaul Zedtwitz19681972Previously Counsellor and Chargé d'Affaires in the United States, Chile, Ethiopia; later in AlgeriaErnst Hessenberger19721975Arnold Möbius19751979Michael Fitz.19791983Johann Plattner19831986Alexander Christiani19861990Previously Head of the department for the Near and Middle East in the Foreign Ministry, member of the delegation to the UN General Assembly, Ambassador to the United Kingdom, and the NetherlandsArnold Möbius19901994Second termFranz Palla19941999Kurt Spallinger19992003Helmut Freudenschuss20032008 Previously a member of the Permanent Representative to the UN in New York and Alternate Representative in the Security Council, Head of Coordination Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador to Lebanon; later Head of Sub-Saharan Africa Department at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy Advisor to the President. Otto Ditz20082012 Since January 2012: → , , Previously Ambassador to Saudi Arabia, and Canada and Jamaica.Brigitte Öppinger-Walchshofer20132017 Previously Ambassador to Ethiopia and Deputy Representative to the African Union, and Head of Austrian Development Cooperation.Johann Brieger 2018 2022 Previously Ambassador to Kosovo, Deputy Head of the Service Section (at Ambassadorial level), Permanent Representative to the IACA and member of the supervisory board of the ADADer Botschafter, mit Ehemalige Österreichische Botschafter in Pretoria. bmeia.gv.at: Website der ÖB PretoriaRomana Königsbrun 2022 Present Accredited to Angola, Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Madagascar, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia and Zimbabwe.
See also Foreign relations of Austria Foreign relations of South Africa
References
External links Official website of the Austrian Embassy, Pretoria