U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has labeled South Africa’s ambassador to Washington, Ebrahim Rasool, a “race-baiting politician” and declared him “no longer welcome” in the country.
In a post on X, Rubio accused Rasool of harboring hostility toward the United States and President Donald Trump. “He hates our country and our president. He is no longer welcome in our great nation,” Rubio wrote.
Following this, South Africa’s presidential office called the decision “regrettable” but affirmed the country’s commitment to maintaining a mutually beneficial relationship with the U.S.
This rare diplomatic move comes amid escalating tensions between the two nations. While the U.S. occasionally expels lower-ranking diplomats, it is highly unusual for such action to be taken against a senior official.
In his Friday post, Rubio linked to an article from the right-wing outlet Breitbart, which quoted Rasool’s remarks from a recent online lecture on the Trump administration.
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During the event, Rasool claimed that Trump was “mobilizing a supremacism” and using “white victimhood as a dog whistle” in response to demographic shifts in the U.S. He stated, “We see it in the domestic politics of the USA—the MAGA movement is not just a supremacist instinct but a response to clear data showing the white voting electorate is projected to decline to 48%.”
He also suggested South Africa was being targeted because it serves as “the historical antidote to supremacism.”
In response, Marco Rubio declared Rasool “PERSONA NON GRATA,” using the Latin phrase for an “unwelcome person.”
Relations between the U.S. and South Africa have deteriorated significantly since Trump took office. Last month, an executive order froze U.S. aid to South Africa, citing “unjust racial discrimination” against white Afrikaners, who are largely descended from Dutch settlers.
The order referenced the Expropriation Act, a controversial law that permits land redistribution. The U.S. claimed it unfairly targets Afrikaners by allowing the government to seize private land without compensation.
“As long as South Africa continues to support bad actors on the world stage and permits violent attacks on innocent, disfavored minority farmers, the United States will withhold aid and assistance,” a White House statement said.
South Africa’s 2022 census reported that white citizens, including Afrikaners, make up 7.2% of the population. However, a 2018 government land audit revealed white farmers owned 72% of individually-held farmland.
The South African government, led by the African National Congress (ANC) and nine other parties, has dismissed the U.S. accusations as “misinformation and propaganda.” Officials insist that no land has been seized without compensation and that such measures would only be considered in extreme cases, such as for public use when all other avenues have been exhausted.
A White House fact sheet, however, asserts that South Africa “blatantly discriminates against ethnic minority descendants of settler groups.”
Ebrahim Rasool, who previously served as South Africa’s ambassador to the U.S. from 2010 to 2015, has personal experience with land displacement. As a child, he was forcibly removed from his home in Cape Town’s District Six after it was declared a whites-only area under apartheid. He has since described that eviction as a defining moment in his life.
Reappointed as ambassador in 2024, Rasool was reportedly seen as well-equipped to navigate the Trump administration due to his prior diplomatic experience and established contacts, according to sources in the South African government who spoke to the Daily Maverick.
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