Is this cultural or is he just being an arse

[Superwash]

Older middle aged man from South Africa, appointed to a fairly junior position.

He's doing very well with the work and workload, but is upsetting ever

Send him to Charm School.

To lose a country is unfortunate to lose a whole continent is carelessness - maybe he is aware of this.

Just have a progress meeting with everyone separately so noone is singled out and tell him finger wagging is unacceptable in the work place it is rude to interrupt so please don't and tell him how to handle when needs things. Also suggest lowering tone of voice in office he can't help his accent lots of people perceive this accent to be rude or aggressive like Russian but it's not. If you haven't got the authority to do this you need to inform someone higher up not of his accent but of finger wagging and whatever else it is.

A client of mine is South African. She's aggressive & intimidating. She maintains it's her culture. My take...manners cost nothing, lose your excuses & grow up. Of course, I could never say that. I just keep communication to a minimum. She's rude and not a good representative of her company - but it's just 'the culture' apparently.

You need to speak to him OP as you are his manager. Stay polite but be direct and firm. Tell him that while you understand that the way he talks in the office is normal in South Africa, the way he interacts with colleagues is not suitable here, and needs to change. You can give specifics about finger wagging and interrupting which are regarded here as rude and aggressive. Also explain that opening with Listen sounds aggressive and Look sounds argumentative. So for smoother communication in future, he needs to be aware of these things, and tone down the behaviours to fit in with norms here.

How about if he replaces the 'Listen' and the 'Look' with 'So....'

That immediately applies some hesitancy and diffidence to blend him right in. 😁

I also suggest replacing the finger-wagging with a vague waist-height waft of the hand.

White south Africans I've spoken to are very direct and come across as rude.
However, cultural or ot

Should say...cultural or not, he needs to be told that his behaviour isnt acceptable.

I know quite a number of black South Africans and have never come across this behaviour.

He sounds bloody awful.

I'm surprised you haven't had a formal complaint yet to be honest.

Well no, it's a wildly different culture.

I've come across quite a few white South African bosses in a neighboring country. I've found their manner with their local employees really quite disturbing. Not just direct, but sharp and bordering aggressive. I'd assumed racism, but reading this thread, maybe that's how they'd treat their fellow white South Africans too.