US expels South African ambassador, declaring him 'persona non grata'

According to a message posted on social platform X by U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Friday, the Trump administration has expelled South Africa's ambassador to the United States, Ibrahim Rasool. This move has sparked widespread attention and may impact U.S.-South Africa relations.

Rubio called Rasool a "race-baiting politician" and accused him of harboring animosity towards the United States and U.S. President Donald Trump. These accusations stem from remarks Rasool made at a seminar in South Africa. Rubio also declared Rasool "persona non grata" in his statement.

At the seminar in South Africa, Rasool described Trump and his "Make America Great Again" (MAGA) movement as a supremacist "attack on those in power," stating that this attack mobilizes not only domestically but also abroad. He specifically mentioned Elon Musk's interference in the affairs of other countries and his support for far-right forces.

Rasool pointed out that Musk not only openly supports Nigel Farage and the Reform UK party in the UK, but also supports the far-right Alternative for Germany (AFD) in Germany. Furthermore, in Musk's native South Africa, Musk has described white South Africans as a community in distress. "Clearly, this is signaling a white victimhood narrative, implying that a global protection movement is beginning to surround those distressed white communities, or ostensibly distressed white communities," Rasool said.

According to CBS News, the Trump administration has issued a diplomatic note to Rasool, requiring him to leave the United States within 72 hours. Musk is a confidant and senior advisor to President Trump, and also the de facto head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa told reporters on Monday that South Africa is committed to improving relations with the United States, as the U.S. is South Africa's second-largest trading partner. "We have taken note of the concerns expressed by the United States, particularly regarding the remarks made by Ambassador Rasool," Ramaphosa said, adding that he has asked Rasool "for a full report to me."

Rasool had only been in office for two months, but previously served as South Africa's ambassador to the United States from 2010 to 2015. U.S.-South Africa relations have been strained since South Africa filed a case against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in December 2023, accusing it of committing genocide. Tensions have further escalated since Trump took office.

The former apartheid state has also accused Israel of treating Palestinians as an apartheid state. South Africa's 84-page application to the ICJ called on the body to investigate whether Israel has committed genocide against Palestinians after launching a bloody offensive in Gaza. The application stated that Israel's actions "are genocidal in character because they are intended to destroy a substantial part of the Palestinian national, racial and ethnic group."

Israel dismissed the accusation as a "blood libel," referring to an anti-Semitic lie originating in the Middle Ages that Jews murder Christian boys and use their blood for religious rituals. Since taking office, Trump has passed an executive order freezing U.S. aid to South Africa, citing South Africa's "unjust racial discrimination" against Afrikaners (white descendants of Dutch colonists).

The order also stated that South Africa's lawsuit at the International Court of Justice is an act of aggression against the United States and its allies. "South Africa has taken aggressive positions against the United States and its allies, including accusing Israel of genocide rather than Hamas at the International Court of Justice, and re-strengthening relations with Iran to develop commercial, military and nuclear arrangements." The order even went so far as to "promote the resettlement [to the United States] of Afrikaner refugees fleeing government-supported, race-based discrimination (including racially discriminatory property confiscations)."

According to South Africa's 2022 census, white South Africans, including Afrikaners, own more than 72% of the country's individually owned farmland, but make up just over 7% of the country's population.