The Donald Trump administration in the USA is expelling South Africa’s Ambassador to the country, and have given him 72 hours to leave the country. Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced the decision on X, calling ambassador Ebrahim Rasool a “race-baiting politician”.
Rubio stated that South Africa’s Ambassador to the United States is no longer welcome in the USA. He posted on X, “South Africa’s Ambassador to the United States is no longer welcome in our great country. 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.”
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
In his post, the secretary of state linked a report by Breitbart on Ebrahim Rasool’s comments at an event against President Donald Trump. At the event, Rasool said Trump is leading a white supremacist movement in America and around the world. He alleged that white supremacism was motivating Trump’s “disrespect” for the “current hegemonic order” of the world.
Ambassador Ebrahim Rasool further said that the Make America Great Again movement is a white supremacist response to growing demographic diversity in the United States.
Later, South Africa confirmed that ambassador Ebrahim Rasool has been expelled by the USA, adding that he has been given 72 hours to leave the country. Ebrahim Rasool “was informed by the State Department yesterday that he had 72 hours to leave,” the South African foreign ministry told AFP.
The official X account of South African president posted that it has noted the “regrettable expulsion of South Africa’s Ambassador to the United States of America, Mr. Ebrahim Rasool.” The Statement added, “The Presidency urges all relevant and impacted stakeholders to maintain the established diplomatic decorum in their engagement with the matter.”
The Presidency’s tweet stated that “South Africa remains committed to building a mutually beneficial relationship with the United States of America.”
The development comes a week after President Trump stopped all funding to South Africa over a controversial land appropriation law. He also offered asylum with rapid citizenship to farmers seeking to leave South Africa, with immediate effect. Trump called the South Africa’s controversial land expropriation law a rights violation against the white minority in the African country.
The law allows the South African government to expropriate land from private parties if it’s in the public interest and allows for expropriation without compensation. The Act aims to address historical land ownership disparities resulting from apartheid-era policies. Donald Trump alleges that this law targets lands owned by farmers from the white minority Afrikaner group, who are descended from Dutch and other European colonial settlers.
