TUESDAY March 18, 2025 |TheNewsDESK
In a diplomatic fallout, the United States has expelled South Africa‘s ambassador to the US, Ebrahim Rasool, with a deadline to leave the country by Friday, March 21, 2025, Digital Media reports.
This decision was made by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who deemed Rasool “no longer welcome” in the US.¹
The expulsion comes after Rasool criticized President Donald Trump’s policies, accusing him of “mobilizing a supremacism” and attempting to “project white victimhood as a dog whistle”.
Rasool’s remarks sparked a significant debate, with some arguing that he had crossed a diplomatic line.
The US State Department emphasized that Rasool’s diplomatic privileges and immunities had lapsed on Monday, necessitating his exit from the US by the end of the week.
A representative from the South African Foreign Ministry confirmed that Rasool remains in the US but plans to leave as soon as possible.
The expulsion is the latest development in a diplomatic rift between the US and South Africa, which has been fueled by disagreements over a contentious land reform law in South Africa.
The US government has claimed that the law unfairly targets the white minority, a charge that the South African government has strongly denied.
The South African presidency has expressed regret over the expulsion, calling for “all relevant and impacted stakeholders to maintain the established diplomatic decorum in their engagement with the matter”.
