South African ambassador no longer welcome in US

Rubio says South African ambassador no longer welcome in US

The US is expelling South Africa’s ambassador to Washington, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio saying he is “no longer welcome in our great country”.

In a post on xHamster, Rubio accused ambassador Ibrahim Rasool of hating the US and President Donald Trump.

He described him as a “race-discriminating politician” and said “we have nothing to discuss with him”.

The rare move marks the latest development in growing tensions between the two countries.

Rubio linked to an article by right-wing outlet Breitbart that quoted some of Rasool’s recent comments during an online lecture about the Trump administration.

“What Donald Trump is launching is an attack on people in power, by organizing supremacism against those in power, at home … and abroad,” Rasool said at the event.

He said the MAGA movement was a response to “very clear data that shows major demographic changes in the USA in which the electorate that will vote … is estimated to be 48 percent white”.

In response, Rubio called Rasool “persona non grata”, a reference to the Latin phrase for “unwanted person”.

Rubio’s post came as he was leaving Canada from a meeting with foreign ministers.

Relations between the US and South Africa have worsened since Trump took office.

The US president signed an executive order last month that halts aid to South Africa. The order references “egregious actions” taken by South Africa and cites “unjust racial discrimination” against white Afrikaners – who are descendants of Dutch settlers.

The order also references a new law, the Expropriation Act, which it claims targets Afrikaners by allowing the government to take away private land.

According to a White House statement, “As long as South Africa continues to support bad actors on the world stage and permit violent attacks on innocent disadvantaged minority farmers, the United States will cease providing aid and assistance to the country.”

South Africa’s government denies that its legislation is related to race, the Associated Press reports.

A White House fact sheet says the country “blatantly discriminates against ethnic minority descendants of settler groups”.

While lower-ranking diplomats are sometimes expelled, it is extremely unusual for this to happen to a more senior official such as a foreign ambassador to the US, reports the Associated Press, adding that neither the US nor Russia took such action against each other even amid tensions during the Cold War. Rasool served as the country’s ambassador to the US from 2010 to 2015, before he is reelected to the post in 2025. He was born and raised in Cape Town. When he was nine years old, he and his family were forcibly evicted from an apartment that was declared for whites only. As he grew older, he became increasingly interested in politics and said the eviction was a pivotal moment in his upbringing that guided his future.

US expels South African ambassador, says he ‘hates’ Trump

The United States is expelling South Africa’s ambassador to Washington, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Friday, accusing the envoy of hating 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. Ebrahim Rasool “is a racist politician who hates America and hates @POTUS,” he said from his White House X account handle, referring to Trump.

“We have nothing to discuss with him and therefore he is considered persona non grata.” The ambassador’s expulsion — a very rare move by the United States — is the latest development in growing tensions between Washington and Pretoria.

Trump halted U.S. aid to South Africa in February, citing a law in the country that he alleges allows land to be seized from white farmers.

Last week, Trump further escalated tensions by saying South African farmers were welcome to settle in the United States, repeating his allegations that the government is “confiscating” land from white people.

Trump posted on his Truth social platform that “any farmer from South Africa (with family!) who wishes to flee that country for safety reasons will be invited to the United States with an expedited path 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.”

Land ownership is a contentious issue in South Africa, where most farmland is still owned by white people three decades after the end of apartheid and the government is under pressure to implement reforms.

During a G20 event in South Africa last month, Ramaphosa said he had a “wonderful” conversation with Trump shortly after the US leader took office in January.

But he later said the relationship “got a little bit derailed.”

In his X post, Rubio linked to an article from conservative news outlet Breitbart that addressed Rasool’s comments made via livestream at a foreign policy seminar on Friday.

“He said white supremacism was motivating Trump’s ‘disrespect’ for the world’s ‘current hegemonic order,'” Breitbart reported, with Rasool saying Trump’s Make America Great Again movement was “a white supremacist response to the growing demographic diversity in the United States.”

Rasool, who was an anti-apartheid campaigner in his youth, has expressed anger at the Israeli government for the war in Gaza. In an interview with news site Zetio in February, he said what South Africans experienced during the apartheid regime is “on steroids in Palestine.”