Rubio Labels SA Ambassador 'Persona Non Grata,' Heightening Tensions -

Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that South Africa’s ambassador to the US “is no longer welcome” following the diplomat’s comments about President Donald Trump, further intensifying a conflict between Washington and Pretoria.

Rubio shared this information on X, linking to a Breitbart News article that discusses a conversation Ambassador Ebrahim Rasool had with a think tank in Johannesburg.

Read: The notable South African connections within the Trump administration

Rasool labeled Trump and his Make America Great Again advocates as essentially a “supremacist” group projecting “white victimhood.”

“Ebrahim Rasool is a race-baiting politician who harbors animosity towards America and hates @POTUS,” Rubio stated, tagging Trump’s official account on X. “We have no intention of engaging with him, therefore he is deemed PERSONA NON GRATA.”

The South African embassy in Washington had not responded to requests for comment via phone and email as of Friday.

Declaring the diplomat persona non grata indicates that the Trump administration will not engage with him, which may force him to leave the country or prompt his government to withdraw him.

This diplomatic incident contributes to a fraught and racially charged conflict between the two nations, partially fueled by Trump’s South African-born billionaire adviser Elon Musk, who has propagated the conspiracy theory of a “genocide” against White farmers in South Africa.

This situation resulted in a White House executive order that suspended US foreign aid to South Africa and indicated that the US refugee system would prioritize Afrikaner “victims of unjust racial discrimination.”

Listen/read:
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Trump 2.0: What’s at risk for South Africa?
Business community applauds Rasool’s appointment as SA’s US ambassador

Relations between Washington and one of Africa’s largest economies had already been strained due to South Africa’s case at the International Court of Justice against Israel, an important American ally, for allegedly committing genocide against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, as well as its ties to Russia, Iran, and China.

In his comments, which were provided during a comprehensive discussion with the Mapungubwe Institute for Strategic Reflection, published on Friday, Rasool referenced Vice President JD Vance’s meeting with a far-right German politician and Musk’s involvement in UK politics, asserting that Trump was “mobilizing a supremacism against the incumbency” both at home and abroad.

The US has previously expelled diplomats; in 1999, it accused a Russian diplomat of espionage, declared him ‘persona non grata,’ and issued an ultimatum for his departure within 10 days.

Listen to Rasool speaking with Moneyweb editor Ryk van Niekerk following his appointment as SA’s US ambassador in this Special Report from January (or read the transcript here):

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You can also listen to this podcast on iono.fm here.

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