After Being Expelled From U.S. By Trump Administration, South African Ambassador Ebrahim Rasool Is Given Hero’s Welcome At Home

Last week, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that South Africa’s ambassador to the US, Ebrahim Rasool, is no longer welcome in the country, marking a new action by the Trump administration against the African nation. In a post on X, Rubio described Rasool as a “race-baiting politician” who harbors animosity toward President Donald Trump, officially designating him as “persona non grata.”

Tensions between South Africa and the US have been on a downward spiral since Trump came into office in January. Raool’s expulsion followed a statement he made that Trump was “mobilizing a supremacism” as America’s white population faced becoming a minority.

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Ambassador Rasool, a former anti-apartheid leader, served as South Africa’s ambassador to the US from 2010 to 2015. He built a network in Washington, hoping to navigate tensions with the Trump administration. Tensions rose over issues like South Africa’s stance on Israel, its push for BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) expansion, and land expropriation laws, leading to the suspension of US aid in February.

Last month, Trump issued an executive order suspending funding to South Africa. The order criticized the black-led government for promoting “anti-white policies” domestically and for supporting international groups like Hamas and Iran.

The final straw came when Rasool described the MAGA movement as driven by “white supremacist instinct,” prompting Rubio to label him a “race-baiting politician” who opposes the U.S. and Trump.

“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% white, and that the possibility of a majority of minorities is looming on the horizon,” said Rasool during a MISTRA South Africa online seminar, broadcast to YouTube.

On March 17, the South African embassy staff were summoned to the State Department and given a formal diplomatic note explaining the decision. Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said Rasool’s diplomatic privileges and immunities expired Monday and that he would be required to leave the United States by the following Friday.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa emphasized in a statement that South Africa is working to rebuild its relationship with the US. He told reporters that his government has “noted the displeasure that has been expressed by the United States.”

On Sunday, Rasool returned to Cape Town where he was greeted as a hero. “A declaration of persona non grata is meant to humiliate you,” Rasool told the group. “But when you return to crowds like this, and with warmth… like this, then I will wear my persona non grata as a badge of dignity.”