WASHINGTON — Three days after the Trump administration expelled South Africa’s ambassador to the United States, saying he is a “persona non grata” who hates President Donald Trump, State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said Ebrahim Rasool has until Friday to leave the country. The move, she said, “isn’t one just of demeanor or decorum.”
During a news briefing Monday, she cited South Africa’s “reinvigorated relationship with Iran to develop commercial military and nuclear arrangements,” as well as its aggressive positions toward the United States and its allies, “including accusing Israel, not Hamas, of genocide in the International Court of Justice."
“This is a matter of a nation that is taking steps that are not in the best interests of providing a safe, secure, more prosperous America, let alone world,” Bruce said.
Returning from a meeting with G7 leaders in Canada on Friday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio wrote on X that Rasool is a “race-baiting politician who hates America.” The post included a link to a story on the right-leaning website Breitbart, which quoted the ambassador saying Trump is leading a supremacist movement against South African leadership.
“You want people in each embassy who can facilitate a relationship, and these remarks were unacceptable to the U.S., not just to the president but to every American. They were pretty obscene,” Bruce said. “At the very least, we should expect a standard of respect — basic, low-level respect. This particular individual certainly didn’t meet that standard.”
In February, Trump signed an executive order describing South Africa’s white minority Afrikaners as “victims of unjust racial discrimination” after a new land policy bill became law in the country. The order halted foreign assistance to South Africa and also prioritized resettling Afrikaners in the United States.
Bruce said U.S. policy toward South Africa is “to encourage a change.” She added: "The nature of the secretary of state is to make things better for people. It is not to punish or to target people or countries. It’s a nature of changing policy and creating better environments.”
A statement last week from the office of South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said it had "noted the regrettable expulsion" of Rasool and called on its diplomatic officials "to maintain the established diplomatic decorum in their engagement with the matter."
"South Africa remains committed to building a mutually beneficial relationship with the United States of America," the statement said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
