By Zukile Majova
- Rasool criticised policies of the Trump administration and its position on Israel while embracing Palestine.
- SA government says Rasool’s expulsion is regrettable.
South Africa’s ambassador to the United States of America, Ebrahim Rasool, has been expelled.
US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, announced this on social media platform, X, accusing Rasool of being a ‘race-baiting politician who hates America’ and its president Donald Trump.
“South Africa’s ambassador to the United States is no longer welcome in our great country.
Rubio immediately shut the door on any possible diplomatic negotiations with President Cyril Ramaphosa’s government on the issue.
“We have nothing to discuss with him and so he is considered persona non grata.”
The Ramaphosa government said it “had noted the regrettable expulsion of South Africa’s Ambassador to the United States of America, Mr. Ebrahim Rasool”.
“The Presidency urges all relevant and impacted stakeholders to maintain the established diplomatic decorum in their engagement with the matter.
“South Africa remains committed to building a mutually beneficial relationship with the United States of America,” the presidency said.
Last week, Ramaphosa confirmed to parliament that he recently had discussions with Elon Musk, the senior advisor to President Trump and the US head of the Department of Government Efficiency.
“Through this conversation that I had, we were able to have a discussion on what was a mischaracterization of what was being said about our country,” Ramaphosa told parliament.
The expulsion of ambassador Rasool comes as Ramaphosa had told parliament he would be sending envoys to the United States.
Rasool is said to have criticised decisions of the Trump administration and its advocacy for far right groups and “an embattled white community” in Europe and in South Africa.
“What Donald Trump is launching is an assault on incumbency, those who are in power, by mobilising a supremacism against the incumbency, at home . . . and abroad,” Rasool said in an online event hosted by South Africa’s Mapungubwe Institute for Strategic Reflection.
There have been calls in South Africa for Ramaphosa to replace Rasool with an ambassador who is not anti-Israel.
Rasool started his second term as South Africa’s ambassador to the US in January, just a week before Trump took office.
His first term was during the President Barack Obama administration from 2010 to 2015.
But he has received criticism for his support of Palestine and public criticism of Israel while some groups in the US have accused him of having links to terrorist groups.
