30 April 2008

Dr Alessandro Cevese was the Italian Ambassador to South Africa, Lesotho, Mauritius & Madagascar . He died in a car accident last Saturday on a game drive in Limpopo. His untimely death is a very big loss for the Italian community and the Italian diplomatic service.

Dr Cevese was born on the 26th December 1950 in Padua where he graduated in Law School. He obtained a Masters degree in Law and Economy of the International Organisations from the University of Parma. He passed the Bar exam in Venice. He joined the Diplomatic Service in 1978. His diplomatic career included assignments in Bonn, Santiago (Chile), London and Pretoria where he spent five years from 1992 until 1997 as First Counsellor at the Embassy. From 2003 until 2004 he was the Head of the Crisis Unit of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Rome and he was personally involved in the rescue of the Italian hostages in Iraq. In July 2006, he was posted to South Africa as Ambassador.

Dr Cevese was passionate about South Africa and worked tirelessly to establish strong ties between Italy and South Africa. He was a very keen hunter and he enjoyed any moment he could spare to travel to the game reserves in Southern Africa. He was also a soccer fan and he used to say that the fact that Italy won the Word cup just a few days after his arrival to South Africa brought him good luck.

The unveiling of the bronze statue of the Multicultural Man on Heroes Park on the Esplanade in 2006 gave Dr Cevese an opportunity to meet with Premier Balindlela, Mayor Peter and members of local and provincial government. His active interest in the Eastern Cape led him to support a number of Italian projects which are about to be implemented in this region.

He leaves a wife and three children. He will be buried in Rome. Memorial services will be held in Pretoria and in Cape Town.

A condolence book will be available at the Italian Consular Agency.