Jamaica’s top diplomat in South Africa on a mission to bridge the gap between nations

It’s a few days shy of a month since High Commissioner Joan Thomas Edwards moved to the continent of her ancestors, and three full weeks on the job as Jamaica’s top diplomat to serve her country’s interests there.

As High Commissioner to the Republic of South Africa, she will have jurisdiction for Jamaica’s relations with 18 countries in the Southern and East African regions, including South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Lesotho, Eswatini (formerly Swaziland), Zambia, Zimbabwe, Ethiopia, Eritrea and Rwanda.

And she has hit the ground running.

The space is not unfamiliar territory, as 17 years ago, Thomas Edwards pioneered and established Jamaica’s first high commission in Pretoria and served as acting high commissioner.

Now she is back, leading an even larger mission to build stronger familial, trade, cultural and diplomatic relations between Jamaica and 18 African nations.

Speaking with The Sunday Gleaner last week from South Africa, where she is based in Pretoria, the high commissioner considers her posting an honour. She said she was fired up for this new challenge, even as she and her family prepare for the winter season, which runs from June to August.

“I have been in office a full three weeks and we have been strategising to meet our goals. I have also been meeting with other members of the diplomatic corps and people in the diaspora,” she said.

“I am also trying to acclimatise to the approaching winter and preparing the family as well and settling the children in school,” said the diplomat who is married with three children.

Thomas Edwards added, “The reception has been great. It’s been positive and I am getting an outpouring of support. So I would say it’s been very encouraging.”

Career diplomat

An experienced diplomat with more than 30 years in Foreign Service, Thomas Edwards was previously posted in the United States and the United Kingdom, as well as at the United Nations.

During her stint as acting high commissioner, she successfully recruited and trained ten members of staff in operational standards and protocols, and also established a registry for communication systems. That deployment in 2006 laid the foundation for bilateral engagements in the areas of cultural exchanges and trade relations. It is in these areas that she hopes to make the greatest impact over the next four years.

Thomas Edwards said the objectives are the same now as then, and she will be seeking to strengthen social, economic, cultural and sporting ties between Jamaica and the African nations.

“Having both Africa and the Caribbean in me, I believe I will be able to bridge the gap and build a closer relationship between our peoples. Africa is the new frontier and Jamaicans love Africa, and Africans love Jamaica. This is largely due to the historical links,” shared the daughter of Windrushers to the United Kingdom – her father (now deceased) was Nigerian and her mother Jamaican.

‘Diplomacy chose me’

Thomas Edwards’ career in diplomacy was unplanned.

She attended Excelsior High School in Kingston and stumbled on her Foreign Service calling by accident after completing a degree in Spanish and Social Sciences at The University of the West Indies (UWI), Mona.

“Diplomacy chose me. At university I chose the subjects that I liked, and I knew very little about a ministry of foreign affairs when I started. In my final year, I was doing a paper on Latin American and Caribbean relationships, a course taught by the late Professor Richard Bernal. So off I went searching for information and made contact with someone who provided the information and I did my paper,” she disclosed.

During the graduation period, employment fairs were held on the campus. One ministry participating was foreign affairs. Her friend Julia, who wanted to be a diplomat, coaxed her over to the booth. She said she tried to discourage Julia, pointing out that working for government does not pay. But Julia was insistent, so she tagged along.

“I followed Julia to the interview and that is how I ended up in foreign affairs. So, diplomacy chose me,” she reiterated.

Thirty-four years later the rest is history.

Thomas Edwards started in the protocol division in the foreign affairs ministry, learning the basics of diplomacy. She found it new and exciting and it was then that some of the concepts she learnt at university came alive by practical application. Plus, she found the scope of learning and the dynamics within the area of work quite fascinating.

She transitioned from protocol to the political department, then economics and bilateral affairs.

Describing herself as a “generalist”, Thomas Edwards said she has been exposed to many areas on her career path.

She has served as the under secretary in the foreign trade division and as a senior director in the foreign trade department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade. She also served as director of the international organisations department and was responsible for the management of Jamaica’s relations with international organisations such as the United Nations and the Commonwealth.

Among her duties were providing policy advice to Government delegations; monitoring international political developments in the preparation of policy recommendations; and providing responses to Jamaican overseas missions and other ministries.

Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade Kamina Johnson Smith describes High Commissioner Thomas Edwards as an experienced diplomat, “who has acquired expertise in the areas of foreign trade, multilateral, bilateral, and regional affairs”.

Johnson Smith, added, “I am confident that she will use the opportunity of this new assignment to strengthen the bonds of friendship and cooperation between Jamaica and the Republic of South Africa, as well as the rest of the Southern and East African regions.”

Natural synergies

Thomas Edwards said for decades Jamaicans have been migrating to Africa – the continent many blacks consider the motherland. The Rastafarian movement in Jamaica has been at the forefront of the push to repatriate to Africa, but in the last few decades Jamaican professionals have also been working on the continent, many making it their home.

“They helped to build Africa and have been involved in the bureaucratic and administrative functions of a number of government offices of African countries. So it’s not strange that Jamaicans are here,” she said.

While unable to quantify the size of the Jamaican diaspora on the continent, the high commissioner believes it is close to 1,000 persons, with about 300 living in southern Africa.

“One of the most important things that we need to strengthen is our cultural relations. That is a natural synergy, because both cultures are so similar. So, one of the first things that I would want to do is to strengthen our cultural ties,” she told The Sunday Gleaner.

With agreements already established in some areas, a number of projects are in the pipeline, beginning in the southern parts of Africa and moving east. The cultural links will span a number of areas, to include education, tourism, and training services.

She expects to cement relationships with activities and actions that are likely to bring quick successes in the shortest possible time.

High Commissioner Thomas Edwards also wants to boost trade between the African nations and Jamaica.

According to the UN database, Comtrade, in 2021, imports from South Africa to Jamaica valued at US$5 million, while Jamaican exports to South Africa valued at only US$74,014.

A demanding job

Diplomats are the technocrats who advise the political directorate and its first rule is “non-interference”, said High Commissioner Thomas Edwards. And sometimes there is a heavy personal price to pay by those who are driven.

“The world of diplomacy is very demanding and we work very long hours. Managing information in different time zones, and writing reports, papers and speeches pose challenges. We are the invisible hand. People don’t see what we do, but we must work long hours because of the demands of the job. It’s like we manage the whole world,” she told The Sunday Gleaner.

“One of the challenges to the craft, therefore, and to your career is to strike that balance by giving time to work and also to family life,” she offered.

Career highlights

High Commissioner Thomas Edwards holds a master’s degree in Public Policy from the American University in Washington, DC; a Bachelor of Laws (LLB) from the University of London, and a Bachelor of Arts (BA) from The UWI. She was called to the Bar in Jamaica and Belize.

Monitoring post human rights activities throughout Angola between January and May 2003 was one of the highlights of her career in Foreign Service, she said.

She served as acting high commissioner to London on two occasions for six-month periods during 2009 to 2012, where she initiated and participated in community activities aimed at engaging the third and fourth generations of Jamaicans living in the UK. They also staged the successful launch of the Jamaican Heritage Series in October 2011.

Thomas Edwards was selected among the top 100 Commonwealth leaders for 2013 by Commonwealth Common Purpose in the United Kingdom.

She was a member of the Jamaican delegation to the United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights that successfully defended the country’s position in 2013. She also successfully coordinated Jamaica’s candidatures to seven international bodies.

As a senior legal officer in Belize, she coordinated the first Anti-Money Laundering and Counter Financing of Terrorism (AML/CFT) National Risk Assessment. She produced a body of work that made recommendations for the improvement of Belize’s AML landscape.

‘Stamp Jamaica’s footprint in Africa’

Thomas Edwards said while she will be utilising the network of honorary consuls available to achieve the objectives for her new mission, she intends to visit all 18 countries that fall under her jurisdiction.

“To the Jamaicans in the diaspora, I say ‘continue to build, to stamp Jamaica’s footprint in Africa’. One of the things I want to see is that Jamaica is seen not only as sea, sand and reggae, but as a country that is serious about making its name known even more on the world stage,” the high commissioner declared.

erica.virtue@gleanerjm.com