US Expels South African Ambassador Over Alleged Anti-American View
Image source: Punch Newspapers
The United States is essentially expelling South Africa’s ambassador to Washington, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio accusing the envoy of harboring animosity towards the country and President Donald Trump.
“South Africa’s ambassador to the United States is no longer welcome in our great country,” Rubio posted on X (formerly Twitter) on Friday.
Rubio accused Ambassador Ebrahim Rasool of being “a race-baiting politician who hates America and hates Trump,” referencing the former president by his handle on the platform. “We have nothing to discuss with him, and he is considered persona non grata.”
Neither Rubio nor the State Department provided an immediate explanation for this decision. However, Rubio shared a link to a Breitbart article about a talk Rasool gave earlier on Friday as part of a South African think tank’s webinar. In that talk, Rasool discussed actions taken by the Trump administration in the context of the U.S., where white people are projected to become a minority.
Rasool highlighted Elon Musk’s engagement with far-right figures in Europe, describing it as a “dog whistle” within a global movement aimed at rallying individuals who identify as part of an “embattled white community.”
A former anti-apartheid campaigner, Rasool served time in prison for his activism before becoming a politician in the African National Congress, the party of Nelson Mandela, South Africa’s first post-apartheid president.
The expulsion of an ambassador is incredibly rare for the U.S., with lower-ranking diplomats more often experiencing persona non grata status.
In response, South Africa’s presidency expressed its regret over the “expulsion of South Africa’s ambassador” and called for everyone to maintain “established diplomatic decorum” regarding the issue.
This incident marks the latest escalation in tensions between Washington and Pretoria. In February, Trump froze U.S. aid to South Africa, citing a law he claims allows land to be seized from white farmers.
Last week, Trump further heightened tensions by stating that South African farmers were welcome to settle in the U.S. after reiterating his accusations that the government was “confiscating” land from white individuals. He posted on his Truth Social platform that “any farmer (with family!) from South Africa, seeking to flee that country for reasons of safety, will be invited into the United States with a rapid pathway to citizenship.”
One of Trump’s closest allies is South African-born billionaire Elon Musk, who has accused South African President Cyril Ramaphosa’s government of having “openly racist ownership laws.”
South Africa was ruled by white Afrikaner leaders during apartheid, a regime that violently repressed the country’s black majority, forcing them to live in segregated townships and rural “homelands.” Afrikaners are primarily descendants of Dutch colonizers who arrived in South Africa in 1652, as well as French Huguenot refugees sponsored by the Dutch.
More than three decades after the end of white minority rule, South Africa remains highly unequal, with land and wealth still largely concentrated among whites, who comprise 7% of the population and about half of native Afrikaans speakers, while black people make up 81%.
However, some white South Africans assert that they face discrimination, often citing the country’s affirmative action laws.
During a G20 event in South Africa last month, Ramaphosa mentioned having had a “wonderful” conversation with Trump shortly after the U.S. leader took office in January. However, he noted that relations “seemed to go a little off the rails” afterward.
In Friday’s webinar, Rasool, speaking via videoconference, discussed the Trump administration’s crackdowns on diversity and equity programs and immigration using academic language.
“The supremacist assault on incumbency, we see it in the domestic politics of the USA, particularly in the MAGA movement, as a response not simply to a supremacist instinct, but to very clear data showing significant demographic shifts in the USA, projecting that the voting electorate will become 48% white,” the South African ambassador stated.
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