Washington D. C.—The US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said South Africa’s Ambassador Ebrahim Rasool “is no longer welcome in our great country.”
In a post on X, Mr. Rubio wrote, “Ebrahim Rasool is a race-baiting politician who hates America and hates the President of the United States”. “We have nothing to discuss with him and so he is considered Persona Non Grata,” the post added.
Rubio linked his announcement to Breitbart’s news story about a talk was given by Rasool on Friday at the Mapungubwe Institute for Strategic Reflection (MISTRA) in Johannesburg during which he said that supremacism was motivating Trump’s effort in America and around the world.
He also suggested that South African farmers who had presented Afrikaner grievances within the US were part of that global effort, according to Breitbart.
It is yet to be known just what the South African government’s reaction will be.
Ellen Knichmeyer, of the Associated Press, argued that “it is highly unusual for the US to expel a foreign ambassador, although lower-ranking diplomats are more frequently targeted with persona non grata status”.
Mr. Rasool was South Africa’s ambassador to Washington from from 2010 to 2015 before returning to the post in January 2025.
As a child, he and his family were evicted from a Cape Town neighborhood designated for white people. Rasool became an anti-apartheid campaigner, serving time in prison for his activism. He also became an active politician with the African National Congress political party during the reign of the late Nelson Mandela.
