Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced Friday that South Africa’s ambassador to the U.S., Ebrahim Rasool, is “no longer welcome” in the country.
Newsweek reached out to the South African embassy for comment via email.
Why It Matters
President Donald Trump, whose close ally Elon Musk is from South Africa, has also been critical of the South African government, issuing an executive order last month promoting the resettlement of white South Africans to the U.S.
Conservatives have raised concerns about some policies in South Africa they believe promote anti-white racism. Proponents of these policies, however, say they are intended to achieve greater racial equality in a post-Apartheid society.
What to Know
Rubio posted on X, “South Africa’s Ambassador to the United States is no longer welcome in our great country. Emrahim Rasool is a race-baiting politician who hates America and hates @POTUS. We have nothing to discuss with him and so he is considered PERSONA NON GRATA.”
Rubio’s post included a link to a Breitbart article that reports that Rasool told participants at a foreign policy seminar Friday that President Donald Trump is leading a white “supremacist” movement.
“What Donald Trump is launching is an assault on incumbency, those who are in power, by mobilizing a supremacism against the incumbency, at home, and — I think I’ve illustrated — abroad as well,” he said during the seminar.
He continued, “So in terms of that, the supremacist assault on incumbency, we see it in the domestic politics of the USA, the MAGA movement, the Make America Great Again movement, as a response not simply to a supremacist instinct, but to very clear data that shows great demographic shifts in the USA in which the voting electorate in the USA is projected to become 48 percent white.”
South African Ambassador to the U.S. Ebrahim Rasool speaks at the South African Embassy in Washington, Friday, Dec. 6, 2013.
Associated Press
The announcement follows Trump’s executive order cutting aid and assistance to South Africa’s Black-led government. In the order, Trump claimed that Afrikaners—descendants of Dutch colonial settlers—are being targeted under a new law allowing government expropriation of private land.
The South African government has denied that the law is race-based, arguing that Trump’s assertions are misleading and full of distortions.
Rasool served as ambassador from 2010 to 2015 before returning to the position this year. Prior to his career in government, Rasool, who as a child was evicted from a Cape Town neighborhood for white people, became an anti-Apartheid campaigner.
He has not publicly responded to Rubio’s decision, and it’s not known whether Rasool was in the United States when Rubio made the announcement.
Rasool has been critical of Trump in the past, telling progressive host Mehdi Hasan in February that he and Musk have “fallen into themselves” by getting involved in domestic South African politics.
What People Are Saying
Patrick Gaspard, former U.S. ambassador to South Africa, on X (formerly Twtter): “The US / South Africa relationship has now reached its lowest point. There’s too much at stake to not work towards the repair of this partnership.”
Progressive commentator Wajahat Ali on X: “Makes me even more proud to know Ebrahim Rasool, a man who helped fight and defeat Apartheid.”
Journalist Kevin Baron on X: “Shameful. America’s top diplomat cites propagandist fake news outlet Breitbart as he publicly shames South Africa. It’s all MAGA world’s scary and backward obsession with saving pre-apartheid white South Africa and denying post-apartheid human rights to a foreign nation.”
Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman James Risch, an Idaho Republican, on X: “I applaud @secrubio for calling out the South African ambassador’s disgraceful, anti-American hate speech. Suffice it to say that he is not cut out for diplomacy.”
What Happens Next
It’s unclear how exactly Rubio’s decision will affect already-tense relations between the U.S. and South Africa.
Reporting by the Associated Press contributed to this story.
Update 3/14/2025 6:30 p.m. ET: This article was updated with additional information.