On Friday, the United States Secretary of State Marc Rubio declared South Africa’s ambassador to the United States, Ebrahim Rasool, persona non grata, calling the envoy a “race-baiting politician” who hates America and President Donald Trump.
Rubio said in a post on social media platform X, “South Africa’s ambassador to the United States is no longer welcome in our great country.” “We have nothing to discuss with him, and so he is considered PERSONA NON GRATA.”
According to the South African Embassy’s website, Rasool presented his credentials to then-President Joe Biden on January 13, a week before President Trump took office. It said Rasool was serving his second stint in Washington.
The spokesperson for South Africa’s Department of International Relations and Cooperation, Chrispin Phiri, wrote on X that the government “will engage through the diplomatic channel.”
Relations between the United States and South Africa have declined since U.S. President Trump cut aid to South Africa due to its land policy and its genocide case at the International Court of Justice against Washington’s ally Israel.
According to Trump, “South Africa is confiscating land” and that “certain classes of people” are being treated “very badly.”
Tesla CEO and South African-born billionaire Elon Musk has said white South Africans have been the victims of “racist ownership laws.”
In January, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa signed into law a bill aimed at making it easier for the state to expropriate land in the public interest, in some cases without compensating the owner.
President Ramaphosa has defended the policy, claiming that the government had not confiscated any land. He stated that the policy was aimed at evening out racial disparities in land ownership in the Black-majority nation.
