STATEMENT BY DR JOHNNY PITSWANE, ALTERNATE RESIDENT REPRESENTATIVE OF THE REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA, DURING THE SPECIAL SESSION OF THE BOARD OF GOVERNORS, 1 AUGUST 2019, VIENNA, AUSTRIA

Madame Chair,

South Africa thanks you for the all your efforts in steering us through this unusual situation. In this regard, we thank you for the memorandum circulated by you on 30 July 2019 outlining the process to be followed in the selection and appointment of the next Director General as well as for taking the concerns and preferences of all Members of the Board into consideration as it is important that this process is fair, transparent, democratic and credible. 

With this in mind, my delegation wishes to outline its understanding of the decision we adopted today specifically as it relates to the timeframes, namely that that these timeframes are guidelines and not deadlines. Meaning that should the Board not be able to come to a decision in October it should not be forced to do so. We acknowledge that the Board should move as swiftly as possible to appoint the Agency’s new Director General, but the time frames should not prejudice the process, which should be fair, transparent, democratic and credible. 

I thank you

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