Lana Marks

Marks and Joe Phaala, the South African Deputy Minister of Health, bump elbows as they mark the delivery of 720,000 face masks

Marks’s rumored appointment to the ambassadorship was leaked from a source within the Department of International Relations and Cooperation, South Africa's foreign affairs department.[10] On November 14, 2018, President Donald Trump nominated Marks to be the United States Ambassador to South Africa. Marks had known Trump for more than two decades and was a member of his Mar-a-Lago club.[11] She was unanimously confirmed by the Senate on September 26, 2019.[12] She was sworn into office on October 4, 2019,[13] and arrived at her posting on November 9, 2019, presenting her diplomatic credentials to President Cyril Ramaphosa on January 28, 2020.[14][15]

Marks stated that her primary goals include youth and women’s empowerment.[16] During her first sixty days, Marks launched two major initiatives, to invite all of Africa's leaders to a U.S.-Africa investment summit in Washington, and to lift South Africa into a top-20 U.S. trading partner.[15]

With the onset of COVID-19, and as regional travel restrictions in South Africa limited free travel, Marks coordinated the repatriation flights for over one thousand citizens from four countries in Southern Africa. She then regularly facilitated the successful commercial travel of thousands of additional American citizens.[17]

In September 2020, anonymous U.S. intelligence sources claimed that Iran was planning an assassination attempt on Marks in South Africa. The plot, claimed the sources, was in retaliation for the US drone strike in Baghdad, Iraq, that killed the former commander of Qods Force, Qasem Soleimani, and deputy leader of Iraqi Popular Mobilization Forces militia, Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis on January 3, 2020.[18]

During her time as ambassador, according to press reports, Marks was known for unideological and pragmatic policy decisions, forging strong relationships within the South African government, and mobilizing the Covid-19 response with both equipment and personnel. She emphasized trade, and helped expand US port access for South African citrus; this, coupled with a USDA preclearance of refrigerated citrus, eventually led to a 68% increase in imports. Marks also made achieving HIV epidemic control by 2021, by means of her in-country leadership of PEPFAR, one of her priorities, and helped to facilitate the first visit by a US Navy Ship to South Africa in nearly a decade, expanding ties with the South African Navy.[17] The signing of a letter of intent between the US International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) and NuScale, to develop 2,500 MW of nuclear power in South Africa, was cited as perhaps being one of her most significant accomplishments.[19]

In December 2020, Marks spent 10 days in intensive care with Covid-19. She used the opportunity to thank health care workers, and to urge all South Africans to follow precautions against the virus.[20]

As a Trump political appointee ambassador, she resigned from the office following the inauguration of President Joe Biden on 20 January 2021 and was succeeded by John Groarke as Charge d'Affaires ad interim.[21]