South Africa's new ambassador to Ireland Ms Melanie Verwoerd will present her credentials to the President, Mrs McAleese, at Áras an Úachtaráin today at 3.30 p.m.
Ms Verwoerd became South Africa's youngest female MP at the age of 27 in 1994. She joined the African National Congress in 1991 after studying in Oxford.
During her political career she has been a member of the Religious Commission of the ANC and the Constitutional Review Committee.
Ambassador Verwoerd is married to the grandson of former South African Prime Minister H.F. Verwoerd.
Mr Wilhelm Verwoerd was involved in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the two visited Northern Ireland on a fact-finding mission while students.
