US expels South Africa's ambassador, saying he hates Trump

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said South Africa's ambassador to Washington is "no longer welcome" in the United States.

Rubio, in a post to X, also accused diplomat Ebrahim Rasool of being a "race-baiting politician" who hated US President Donald Trump.

In his post, Rubio linked to an article from the conservative US media outlet Breitbart, which commented on remarks Rasool made Friday during a South African think tank's webinar.

According to Breitbart, Rasool said that white supremacism was motivating Trump's "disrespect" for the "current hegemonic order" of the world.

Breitbart also said that Rasool noted that Trump's MAGA (Make America Great Again) movement "was a white supremacist response to growing demographic diversity in the United States."

South Africa's ambassador to Washington, Ebrahim Rasool, is no longer welcome in the USImage: Erkan Avci/Anadolu/picture alliance

Who is South African diplomat Ebrahim Rasool?

Rasool is a veteran diplomat who previously served as his country's ambassador to the US from 2010 to 2015 during the Obama administration.

Rasool's return to Washington in January was already controversial because of his anti-Israel advocacy.

A Muslim, Rasool has been a vocal critic of Israel, calling its treatment of Palestinians in Gaza a "genocide" and accusing it of apartheid. He was a prominent advocate for South Africa's case against Israel at the International Court of Justice.

Before Rubio's post on X, news site Semafor Africa had already reported that Rasool was "struggling to secure crucial meetings in Washington" with officials at the State Department and key Republican figures. 

A victim of South Africa's apartheid system, Rasool became an active anti-apartheid campaigner, serving time in prison and identifying as a comrade of the country's first post-apartheid president, Nelson Mandela.

He later became a politician in Mandela's African National Congress political party.

What is the Trump administration's issue with South Africa?

The expulsion of the ambassador, a highly unusual move by the United States, is the latest development in rising tensions between the Trump administration and South Africa.

In February, Trump froze US aid to South Africaciting a law in the country that he alleges allows land to be seized from white farmers. The US president alleges South Africa is targeting minority white farmers with a new law that allows the government to expropriate private land.

South African-born billionaire Elon Musk, one of Trump's biggest backers, has openly accused South African President Cyril Ramaphosa's government of having "racist ownership laws."

South Africa's government has denied its new law is tied to race and says Trump's claims are full of misinformation and distortions spread by white nationalists.

Almost all countries around the world, including the United States, have similar expropriation laws that allow governments to acquire land for public needs, including roads, schools and other public infrastructure.

Edited by: Sean Sinico