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A Manufactured Crisis for Revenge: The Expulsion of South African Ambassador Ebrahim Rasool [1]
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Date: 2025-03-14
Foreignn Policy by Tweeting Is Never Well Thought Out
On Friday, 14 March 2025, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio declared South Africa’s Ambassador to the U.S., Ebrahim Rasool, persona non grata after Rasool made remarks at a foreign policy seminar earlier that day. Rasool accused President Donald Trump of "mobilizing a supremacism against the incumbency," both domestically and internationally.
Who Is Ebrahim Rasool?
Rasool is of Cape Coloured heritage and was born in Cape Town, South Africa. He identifies as part of the Cape Malay community, historically classified under the broader Coloured category in South Africa. As a child, Rasool and his family were forcibly evicted from District Six after the apartheid government declared it a "whites-only" residential area. They relocated to Primrose Park near Manenberg on the Cape Flats, where he later became deeply involved in the anti-apartheid movement.
A veteran diplomat, Rasool previously served as South Africa’s Ambassador to the United States from 2010 to 2015 before being reappointed in 2025. Throughout his career, he has held senior positions in the United Democratic Front (UDF) and the African National Congress (ANC), consistently advocating for racial and economic justice.
Rubio’s Retaliation & the Role of Right-Wing Media
Last month, Rubio boycotted a G-20 meeting hosted by South Africa, citing its focus on "DEI and climate change." Since Trump's return to office, he has reportedly blocked Rasool from routine diplomatic engagements with U.S. officials.
Taking to X (formerly Twitter), Rubio escalated his attacks, labeling Rasool a “race-baiting politician” and asserting that the U.S. had “nothing to discuss with him.” He linked to a Breitbart article that misspelled Rasool’s name and repeated the error in his post:
“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, so he is considered PERSONA NON GRATA.”
Rasool’s Response & Criticism of the Trump Administration
Earlier that day, via video conference, Rasool addressed the Mapungubwe Institute for Strategic Reflection, a Johannesburg-based think tank. He directly addressed the deteriorating U.S.-South Africa relationship under Trump’s new administration:
"How South Africa responds to the current relations with the U.S. demands a lot of perspective from us,” Rasool said, according to Engineering News.
Rasool urged South Africans to “stay calm and don’t panic” despite diplomatic tensions, emphasizing that South Africa was not the only nation being targeted by Trump’s administration. He argued that South Africa was “the historical antidote to supremacism”, making it a natural adversary for Trump's far-right nationalist allies.
He also pointed to Vice President J.D. Vance’s support for Germany’s far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party and the growing influence of Elon Musk, a White South African, within Trump’s administration.
Despite the State Department’s silence on Rubio’s move, Rasool responded with a measured diplomatic statement:
“We have noted the tweet by the U.S. Secretary of State, Mr. Marco Rubio. We will engage through the diplomatic channel.”
Musk’s Influence and Rasool’s Criticism
The Elon Musk factor looms large in this diplomatic dispute. Musk, who has long been critical of South Africa’s ANC-led government, has accused it of enforcing ‘openly racist ownership laws’ and claimed White South Africans are victims of discrimination.
The ideological divide between Musk and Rasool is deep-rooted:
Rasool has accused Musk of being detached from South Africa’s racial realities, benefiting from White privilege under apartheid, and failing to acknowledge the historical struggles of Black and Coloured South Africans.
Musk has distanced himself from South Africa’s racial history while attacking the ANC for economic mismanagement and affirmative action policies.
The Trump administration aligns with Musk, often amplifying misleading narratives that White South Africans face government-backed land seizures and racial persecution.
Trump’s Anti-South Africa Agenda
Trump has repeatedly targeted South Africa, portraying its White minority as victims of post-apartheid land reforms. In a 7 February executive order, Trump accused South African lawmakers of enabling the "seizure" of Afrikaner-owned farmland without compensation and even offered White South Africans refugee status in the U.S.
However, the South African government has dismissed these claims as misinformation, emphasizing that no land has been confiscated under the existing laws.
Beyond land reform, Trump’s hostility toward South Africa extends to foreign policy. Rasool’s expulsion follows South Africa’s leadership in the International Court of Justice (ICJ) case against Israel, which accused the U.S. ally of genocide in Gaza. This has further widened the diplomatic rift, with Trump using diplomatic retaliation against South Africa for its pro-Palestinian stance.
The Historical Context: South Africa’s Fight Against White Supremacy
To fully understand Trump’s hostility toward South Africa, it's important to revisit its racial and political history:
Afrikaners, a Dutch-descended ethnic group, ruled South Africa under White supremacist apartheid laws from the late 1940s until the system collapsed in 1994.
In the 1980s, the U.S. imposed economic sanctions on the Afrikaner-led government, significantly contributing to the end of apartheid and Nelson Mandela’s election as South Africa’s first Black president.
Since then, the ANC has dominated South African politics, advocating for racial and economic justice—policies that Trump and Musk vehemently oppose.
A Manufactured Crisis?
Rasool’s persona non grata status is not an isolated incident—it is part of Trump’s broader pattern of hostility toward South Africa, driven by racial and ideological motives. His expulsion is a clear retaliation for:
South Africa’s stance against White supremacy and its policies promoting economic redress. The country’s leadership in the ICJ case against Israel, challenging U.S. foreign policy interests. Trump’s alignment with right-wing figures like Elon Musk, who share a deep animosity toward South Africa’s ANC-led government.
This diplomatic crisis is manufactured—a calculated revenge move against a government that has historically challenged White nationalist ideologies.
One thing remains certain: foreign policy by tweet is never well thought out.
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