The United States has effectively expelled South Africa’s ambassador to Washington, Ebrahim Rasool, following remarks in which he accused President Donald Trump of leading a global white supremacist movement.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced the decision on Friday, 14th March, stating that Rasool was “no longer welcome in our great country.” In a post on X, Rubio accused the ambassador of being a “race-baiting politician who hates America and hates @POTUS,” referring to Trump by his official handle. He declared Rasool “persona non grata,” barring him from diplomatic engagement with the US.
South Africa's Ambassador to the United States is no longer welcome in our great country.
— Secretary Marco Rubio (@SecRubio) March 14, 2025
Ebrahim 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.https://t.co/mnUnwGOQdx
The move follows a controversial speech Rasool gave earlier on Friday at a foreign policy seminar hosted by the Mapungubwe Institute for Strategic Reflection (MISTRA) in Johannesburg. During the discussion, Rasool argued that Trump’s policies—particularly his opposition to South Africa’s land expropriation legislation—were driven by white supremacist ideology. He characterised Trump’s “Make America Great Again” movement as a response to demographic shifts in the US, where white Americans are projected to become a minority.
Rasool also pointed to tech billionaire Elon Musk’s outreach to far-right figures in Europe as evidence of a broader, coordinated effort to unite “embattled white communities” worldwide. He suggested that South African farmers who had sought international attention for their grievances were part of this global movement.
He said: “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. 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. And so that needs to be factored in, so that we understand some of the things that we think are instinctive, nativist, racist things, I think that there’s data that, for example, would support that, that would go to this wall being built, the deportation movement, et cetera et cetera. So I think I’d mention that. I think that there is also an export of the revolution.
“It’s no accident that Elon Musk has involved himself in UK politics, and elevated a Nigel Farage and the Reform movement, in much the same way that he was instructed that on his way to the Munich security summit, Vice President Vance addressed the Alternative für Deutschland [AfD] to strengthen them in their election campaign.
“And that, then, begins to say, what then was the role of Afrikaners in that whole makeup. And very clearly, it’s to project white victimhood as a dog whistle that there is a global protective movement that is beginning to envelop embattled white communities or apparently embattles white communities. It may not be true, it may not make sense, but that is not the dog whistle that is being heard in a global, white base. So I think we need to understand all of that. Another discontinuity — it’s almost that they are pitting a supremacist insurgency against the incumbency.”
[Read more on Breitbart].
The expulsion of an ambassador is an unusual and serious diplomatic move. While neither Rubio nor the State Department provided further explanation, the decision underscores escalating tensions between Washington and Pretoria.
The South African presidency responded with a statement expressing “regret” over Rasool’s expulsion and urged all parties to maintain “diplomatic decorum.”
The South African presidency said on X: “The Presidency has noted the regrettable expulsion of South Africa’s Ambassador to the United States of America, Mr. Ebrahim Rasool.
“The Presidency urges all relevant and impacted stakeholders 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.”
PRESIDENCY NOTES RASOOL EXPULSION
— The Presidency 🇿🇦 (@PresidencyZA) March 15, 2025
The Presidency has noted the regrettable expulsion of South Africa’s Ambassador to the United States of America, Mr. Ebrahim Rasool.
The Presidency urges all relevant and impacted stakeholders to maintain the established diplomatic decorum in…
Relations between the US and South Africa have been deteriorating for months. In February, Trump froze US aid to South Africa, citing what he described as policies that allow land seizures from white farmers. More recently, he invited South African farmers to relocate to the US, promising them a “rapid pathway to citizenship.” Trump’s remarks echoed criticism from Musk, who has accused South Africa’s government of enforcing “openly racist ownership laws.”
More than three decades after apartheid ended, South Africa remains deeply unequal, with land and wealth still concentrated among the white minority. However, some white South Africans claim they are now victims of discrimination under affirmative action laws.
While Rasool is a former anti-apartheid activist and ANC politician, his remarks and subsequent expulsion mark a low point in US-South Africa relations.
