Donald Trump and Egyptian leader Abdel Fattah al-Sisi have jointly hosted a summit in Sharm El Sheikh aimed at ending the war in Gaza. More than 20 nations, from Iraq, Bahrain, and Qatar to India, Pakistan, and Hungary, sent representatives to observe.

South Africa should have played a leading role – not just in attending the summit to observe, but as a global actor bringing the warring parties together, conceiving a settlement, and hosting the final truce.

The country was, in many respects, perfectly positioned to do exactly that. It is a free and open society and a leading example of a liberal democracy. At the same time, parts of its government have maintained close ties with the Palestinian people for decades. South Africa was therefore the perfect bridge between those two worlds – an ally of the West and a friend of the Palestinians, the ideal broker to strike a deal between East and West.

It also has its own history of negotiating the 1994 transition from violent autocracy to democratic rule, not to mention the symbolic legacy of Nelson Mandela and FW de Klerk, who brought their respective peoples together to make peace across deep historical divides. That history once afforded South Africa real diplomatic heft.

So why was South Africa not at the forefront of the truce?

The reason is that it has soiled that legacy. It is no longer an ally of the West but an adversary that has prostituted its considerable democratic and diplomatic legacy for money and ideology. At the same time, the ranks of the foreign service have been taken over by incompetents and ideologues, meaning that on global platforms the country engages in childish one-upmanship and silly point-scoring, not the professional and nuanced work that is the basis of great diplomacy. The non-Western world knows this too and therefore does not take South Africa seriously as a capable broker on the global stage.

South Africa’s distance from the action was best revealed when long after the peace deal and ceasefire had been agreed by those who brokered it, the foreign ministry in Pretoria was still issuing statements: “[demanding] an immediate and permanent ceasefire and an end to the occupation and the realization of the right to self-determination of the Palestinian people. There must be a just and lasting peace, in keeping with values of shared humanity and respect for international law.”