In a stunning diplomatic escalation, U.S. Secretary Marco Rubio has publicly declared South Africa’s Ambassador to the United States, Ebrahim Rasool, persona non grata, effectively barring him from any official engagement with the U.S. government.
Rubio made the bombshell announcement via social media, branding Rasool a “race-baiting politician” who “hates America” and President Donald Trump.
“South Africa’s Ambassador to the United States is no longer welcome in our great country,” Rubio declared.
The unprecedented move signals a major breakdown in U.S.-South Africa relations, adding fresh tensions to an already complex geopolitical landscape.
While the White House has yet to issue an official statement, the move is expected to spark intense diplomatic backlash from Pretoria, which has long maintained strategic ties with Washington.
Rasool had on Friday unleashed a scathing attack on Trump, accusing him of spearheading a white supremacist movement both in America and across the globe.
Speaking at a high-profile foreign policy seminar in Johannesburg, Rasool declared that Trump’s actions—from his opposition to South Africa’s land expropriation policies to his alliances with controversial global players like Iran and Hamas—were all driven by a racial ideology.
Rasool argued that Trump’s “disrespect” for global institutions like the United Nations and the G-20 was not just political but racially motivated, suggesting that the president sought to undermine the existing world order in favour of a supremacist vision.
Going even further, Rasool branded Trump’s “Make America Great Again” movement as a direct white supremacist backlash against America’s shifting demographics.
He even linked South African farmers who had taken their grievances to Washington to a larger global effort to uphold white dominance.
