The United States has expelled South Africa’s ambassador for being a “race-baiting politician who hates America”.
Secretary of state Marco Rubio posted on X late on Friday to say Ebrahim Rasool is “no longer welcome in our great country” because he “hates America and @POTUS [President of the United States]”.
“We have nothing to discuss with him and so he is considered PERSONA NON GRATA,” Mr Rubio said.
Relations between the US and South Africa have been strained since Donald Trump re-entered the White House in January.
The second-time president cut the country’s financial aid and has criticised both its land policy, aimed at evening out racial disparities, and its genocide case against Israel at the International Criminal Court (ICC).
Mr Trump, without any supporting evidence, has claimed “South Africa is confiscating land” and that “certain classes of people” are being treated “very badly” there.
Elon Musk, his close ally and head of newly created Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), has said white South Africans have fallen victim to “racist ownership laws”.
The new legislation, passed in January, makes it easier for the government to expropriate land in the public interest.
The expulsion comes after Mr Rasool addressed a webinar in which he said Mr Trump is leading a “white supremacist” movement in America.
Mr Rubio posted a news report on the webinar alongside his announcement.
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Mr Rasool began his second post as US ambassador in January, having served in Washington previously between 2010 and 2015.
The office for South Africa’s president Cyril Ramaphosa described the US decision as “regrettable”, adding that it remains committed to a “mutually beneficial relationship with the country”.
Mr Rasool has been excluded from meetings with key State Department officials – and members of Mr Trump’s administration, according to news website Semafor.
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His pro-Palestinian views and criticism of Israel appear to have been the reason, the website claimed, citing an anonymous South African diplomat.
Former US ambassador to South Africa Patrick Gaspard told Reuters that ties between the two nations have reached their “lowest point”.
“There’s too much at stake to not work towards the repair of this partnership,” he said.
