South Africa has called the United States’ decision to expel Ambassador Ebrahim Rasool “regrettable” while affirming its commitment to maintaining “a mutually beneficial relationship” with Washington.
In a Saturday morning statement, South Africa’s presidency urged stakeholders to “maintain the established diplomatic decorum” following US State Secretary Marco Rubio’s harsh public criticism. Rubio declared Rasool a “race-baiting politician” who hates the US and President Donald Trump, writing on X: “We have nothing to discuss with him and so he is considered PERSONA NON GRATA.”
Rubio referenced a Breitbart article quoting Rasool’s comments that Trump mobilized a “supremacist instinct” and “white victimhood” as a “dog whistle” during the 2024 elections.
Political analyst Sandile Swana told Al Jazeera that the “core of the dispute” stems from South Africa’s genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice. Rasool, an anti-apartheid activist, previously stated to Zeteo news that what South Africans experienced during apartheid “is on steroids in Palestine.”
Swana noted that during apartheid, the US “supported the apartheid regime,” suggesting Rasool “continues to point out the behaviour of the United States, even now is to support apartheid and genocide.”
The diplomatic expulsion comes amid escalating tensions between the nations after Trump cut financial aid to South Africa, citing disapproval of its land policy that he claimed allows seizure of land from white farmers. Last week, Trump extended an invitation for South African farmers to settle in the US, reiterating his claim that the South African government was “confiscating” land from white people.
South African-born tech billionaire Elon Musk, a Trump ally, has similarly accused the country of having “openly racist ownership laws.”
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has defended the policy, stating the government is not confiscating land but working to address racial disparities in land ownership in the Black-majority nation.
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