THE US expelled South Africa’s ambassador Ebrahim Rasool with Secretary of State Marco Rubio said, calling him a “race-baiting politician” who hates President Donald Trump.
Ties have slumped since Trump cut US financial aid to South Africa, citing disapproval of SA's land policy and genocide case against Washington’s ally Israel at the International Court of Justice.
Rubio then tweeted on Friday: “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 [Trump].”
In statements from its presidency and international relations department, South Africa called the move regrettable but said it remained committed to building mutually beneficial relations and would address the matter via diplomatic channels.
Rubio reposted an article from right-wing website Breitbart that quoted Rasool as saying that Trump was leading a white supremacist movement.
Meanwhile, IOL reports that Rasool previously served as SA ambassador to the US during the Barack Obama administration between 2010 and 2015. He was re-appointed in January 2025, as ambassador during the Joe Biden and then Donald Trump administration.
Rasool made his comments about the US in a webinar held by the Mapungubwe Institute for Strategic Reflection (Mistra).
The theme was "Implications of changes in US administrations for SA and Africa".
In one of his statements, Rasool said: “Those who are in power by mobilising a supremacism against the incumbency at home in the domestic politics of the US… data shows great demographic shifts in the US, in which the voting electorate in the US is projected to become 48 percent white, and the possibility of a majority of minorities is looming on the horizon.”