Almost six months after appointing former mayor Marcelo Crivella to the Brazilian embassy in South Africa, the Jair Bolsonaro government officially withdrew the request for designation from the South African authorities.
The appointment of Crivella —licensed bishop of the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God — depended on the approval of the South African government, which did not happen. The so-called request for agrément, a formal consultation in which Brazil requested authorization from Pretoria to appoint Crivella as ambassador, was ignored by the government led by Cyril Ramaphosa.
In diplomatic language, an agrement that goes unanswered means that the chosen one has not been accepted by the host country.
In light of this, Brazil informed the South African chancellery that it decided to withdraw the request for agrément. According to interlocutors, no request for agrément was sent to a new ambassador.
Crivella’s choice to head the diplomatic mission in South Africa was woven into Bolsonaro’s plea to the Universal Church. The religious group had been complaining about the lack of commitment of the Bolsonaro government in defending Universal’s interests in African countries, mainly in Angola.
Angolan Universal is experiencing a split. Local religious rebelled and began to accuse Brazilian leaders of financial crimes.
According to interlocutors, South Africa’s resistance to giving the green light to Crivella is related to the situation in Angola and Mozambique. The authorities of both countries brought to Pretoria the fear that the former mayor of Rio would transform the diplomatic mission into an outpost of Universal in African territory.
Over the past few months, diplomatic attempts have been made to convince the South Africans to accept Crivella. Unsuccessfully.
On October 7, in a phone call kept off the agenda, Bolsonaro made a direct appeal to Ramaphosa for Crivella’s acceptance.
The South African leader gave an evasive answer and said that the decision on Crivella would fall to his Ministry of International Relations and Cooperation.
Ramaphosa’s position was read by Itamaraty as the strongest sign that Crivella’s name faced strong objections.
With the assignment blocked, the embassy of Brazil in South Africa can remain under the command of a chargé d’affaires. This is because ambassador Sérgio Danese, who commands the post, was appointed as the new head of the Brazilian diplomatic mission in Lima (Peru).
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