Washington expels South Africa’s ambassador and the South African government condemn

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced Friday that the United States has expelled South Africa’s ambassador to Washington, accusing him of hating the country and its president, Donald Trump.

“We’ve nothing to discuss with him, and therefore he is considered persona non grata,” Rubio on X, referring to Ambassador Ibrahim Rasoul.

Rubio described the South African ambassador as a “politician who inflames racial tensions”.

The expulsion of the South African ambassador comes amid escalating tensions between Washington and Pretoria.

In February, Trump froze US aid to South Africa over a property expropriation law deemed discriminatory against white farmers.

One of Trump’s closest allies, Elon Musk, was born in South Africa and has accused South African President Cyril Ramaphosa’s government of having “overtly racist property laws”.

Land ownership in South Africa is a divisive issue, with efforts to address inequalities inherited from apartheid drawing criticism.

During South Africa’s hosting of a meeting of G20 foreign ministers last February, Ramaphosa described as wonderful a call he had with Trump shortly after the latter assumed his second non-consecutive term as president in January.

However, he noted that relations after that “seemed to have gone a little off track”.

South Africa on Saturday called the United States’ expulsion of its ambassador to Washington regrettable, stressing the need to maintain diplomatic decorum between the two countries.

The Pretoria presidency confirmed that it has taken note of the unfortunate expulsion of South Africa’s ambassador to the United States, Mr. Ebrahim Rasool, after Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced his expulsion, accusing him of hating the United States and its president, Donald Trump.