<
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/mar/15/south-africa-ambassador-us-no-longer-welcome-marco-rubio-ebrahim-rasool>
"The US is expelling South Africa’s ambassador to Washington, with the
secretary of state, Marco Rubio, accusing the envoy of hating the US and Donald
Trump.
“South Africa’s ambassador to the United States is no longer welcome in our
great country,” Rubio posted on X on Friday.
Rubio accused ambassador Ebrahim Rasool of being “a race-baiting politician who
hates America and hates @POTUS”, referring to Trump by his White House X
account handle. “We have nothing to discuss with him and so he is considered
persona non grata.”
Neither Rubio nor the state department gave an immediate explanation for the
decision. However, Rubio linked to a
Breitbart story about a talk Rasool had
given on Friday as part of a South African thinktank’s webinar in which he
spoke about actions taken by the Trump administration in the context of a US
where white people would soon no longer be a majority.
Rasool pointed to Elon Musk’s outreach to far-right figures in Europe, calling
it a “dog whistle” in a global movement trying to rally people who see
themselves as part of an “embattled white community”.
He must leave by 21 March, a state department spokesperson said on Saturday.
Rasool is a former anti-apartheid campaigner who served time in prison for his
activism and went on to become a politician in the African National Congress,
the party of Nelson Mandela, the country’s first post-apartheid president.
The expulsion of an ambassador is a very rare move by the US, although
lower-ranking diplomats are more frequently targeted with persona non grata
status.
In response, South Africa’s presidency said in an online post that it had noted
the “regrettable expulsion of South Africa’s ambassador” and urged everyone to
maintain the “established diplomatic decorum” on the matter."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
