South African ambassador 'no longer welcome' in US, Marco Rubio says

Secretary of State Marco Rubio labeled Ebrahim Rasool 'a race-baiting politician who hates America' and officially declared him persona non grata

The US has expelled South Africa’s ambassador to Washington, Ebrahim Rasool, in a rare diplomatic move that further escalates tensions between the two nations.

 

Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced the decision in a post on X, declaring that Rasool is “no longer welcome in our great country.”

 

Rubio accused the ambassador of harbouring anti-American sentiments and hostility toward President Donald Trump.  “We have nothing to discuss with a race-baiting politician who hates America and our president,” Rubio wrote, calling Rasool persona non grata, the formal term for an individual deemed unwelcome by a host country. 

  The expulsion comes as relations between the US and South Africa continue to deteriorate under Trump’s leadership.

 

What led to Rasool’s expulsion?

 

Rubio’s post linked to an article from conservative outlet Breitbart, highlighting Rasool’s recent remarks about the Trump administration. Speaking during an online lecture, Rasool slammed the president’s political strategy, saying, “What Donald Trump is launching is an assault on incumbency, those who are in power, by mobilising a supremacism against the incumbency, at home… and abroad.”

 

He also noted that the Make America Great Again (Maga) movement was a response “to very clear data that shows great demographic shifts in the USA, in which the voting electorate… is projected to become 48 percent white”.

 

Rubio swiftly condemned Rasool’s comments, using them as justification for his expulsion.

 

US-South Africa tensions at an all-time high

 

The move comes just weeks after Trump signed an executive order freezing US assistance to South Africa. The White House cited “egregious actions” by the South African government, specifically calling out alleged discrimination against white Afrikaners—descendants of Dutch settlers.

 

The order referenced South Africa’s Expropriation Act, a controversial land reform law that allows the government to seize private property. The Trump administration claims the law unfairly targets white landowners.

 

“As long as South Africa continues to support bad actors on the world stage and allows violent attacks on innocent, disfavored minority farmers, the United States will stop aid and assistance to the country,” the White House said in a statement.

 

South African officials have denied accusations that the law is racially motivated.

 

A White House fact sheet, however, accused the South African government of “blatantly discriminating against ethnic minority descendants of settler groups.”

 

While the US has occasionally expelled lower-ranking diplomats, removing an ambassador is an extraordinary measure. The Associated Press noted that even during the Cold War, neither the US nor Russia took such actions against one another’s top envoys.

 

(With agency inputs)