Key points
- Expulsion is the latest in rising tensions between Washington and Pretoria
- Trump in February froze US aid to South Africa
- South Africa’s farmers welcome to settle in US: Trump
ISLAMABAD: 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, according to AFP.
“South Africa’s Ambassador to the United States is no longer welcome in our great country,” Rubio posted on X.
Ebrahim Rasool is “a race-baiting politician who hates America and hates @POTUS,” he said, referring to Trump by his White House X account handle.
“Nothing to discuss”
“We have nothing to discuss with him and so he is considered PERSONA NON GRATA.”
South Africa’s Ambassador to the United States is no longer welcome in our great country.
Ebrahim Rasool is a race-baiting politician who hates America and hates @POTUS.
We have nothing to discuss with him and so he is considered PERSONA NON GRATA.https://t.co/mnUnwGOQdx
— Secretary Marco Rubio (@SecRubio) March 14, 2025
The expulsion of the ambassador — a very rare move by the United States — is the latest development in rising tensions between Washington and Pretoria.
Trump in February froze US aid to South Africa, citing a law in the country that he alleges allows land to be seized from white farmers.
Last week, Trump further fueled tensions, saying South Africa’s farmers were welcome to settle in the United States after repeating his accusations that the government was “confiscating” land from white people.
Trump 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 of America with a rapid pathway to Citizenship.”
According to AFP, 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
Land ownership is a contentious issue in South Africa, with most farmland still owned by white people three decades after the end of apartheid and the government under pressure to implement reforms, according to AFP.
During a G20 event in South Africa last month, Ramaphosa said he had a “wonderful” call with Trump soon after the US leader took office in January.
But relations later “seemed to go a little bit off the rails,” he said.
In his X post, Rubio linked to an article from the conservative news outlet Breitbart, which addressed Rasool’s remarks via livestream to a foreign policy seminar on Friday.
“He said that white supremacism was motivating Trump’s ‘disrespect’ for the ‘current hegemonic order’ of the world,” Breitbart reported, adding that Rasool noted that Trump’s Make America Great Again movement “was a white supremacist response to growing demographic diversity in the United States.”
Rasool, an anti-apartheid campaigner in his youth, has expressed anger toward the Israeli government for its war in Gaza.
According to AFP, in February, in an interview with news site Zeteo, he said what South Africans experienced during apartheid rule “is on steroids in Palestine.”
Pause on assistance
According to a report published by the Guardian on March 6, 2025: The state department ordered an immediate pause on most US foreign assistance to South Africa, according to a cable seen by the Guardian, officially implementing a contentious executive order by Donald Trump. The directive, issued on Thursday, implements Executive Order 14204 targeting what the administration called “egregious actions” by South Africa. It orders all state department entities to immediately suspend aid disbursements, with minimal exceptions, the report said.
“To effectively implement EO 14204, all bureaus, offices and missions shall pause all obligations and/or dispersion of aid or assistance to South Africa,” reads the cable, signed by the secretary of state, Marco Rubio, according to Guardian.
Genocide case
According to Anadolu Ajansi, South Africa has vowed not to withdraw its genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), despite the Trump administration’s threats and aid cut.
There is “no chance” South Africa could withdraw its case it filed in December 2023, Foreign Minister Ronald Lamola told the Financial Times.
“Standing by our principles sometimes has consequences, but we remain firm that this is important for the world, and the rule of law,” he added.
South Africa was the first nation to drag Israel to the ICJ over its genocidal war on Gaza that has claimed more than 48,000 lives and reduced the enclave to rubble. A ceasefire that took hold on Jan. 19 is currently in place, according to Anadolu Ajansi.
