US-SA relations strained: Ambassador Rasool expelled over Trump comments

There are diverse views on South Africa’s ambassador Ebrahim Rasool's expulsion from the USA on Friday, after sharing his opinion on Donald Trump’s presidency during a webinar.

Rasool previously served as SA ambassador to the US during the Barack Obama administration between 2010 and 2015. He was re-appointed in January 2025, as ambassador during the Joe Biden and then Donald Trump administration.

The webinar was held by the Mapungubwe Institute for Strategic Reflection (Mistra) where Rasool made the remarks. The theme was 'Implications of changes in US administrations for SA and Africa'. 

During the webinar, Rasool said people should get hold of the framework document of South Africa’s national interests — because this is going to be a guide for SA during these very turbulent moments that we are navigating between our values and our interests. 

Rasool was also concerned about the level of respect SA gets on the issue of the G20 because the country needs to do a handover from South Africa to the US, the presidency of the G20.

Rasool’s opinion was: “Those who are in power by mobilising a supremacism against the incumbency at home in the domestic politics of the US, 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 US, in which the voting electorate in the US is projected to become 48% white, and the possibility of a majority of minorities is looming on the horizon.”

Rasool spoke of the bread-and-butter issues, the budget, the Afrikaner issue, and the fact that the key posts in the US administration are not yet filled.

Rasool said there were many continuities in the Trump administration that are inherited from the Joe Biden administration where “the resistance to the emerging multipolarity in the world started to be articulated”.

Hours after the webinar, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the diplomat (Rasool) was no longer welcome because he was "a race-baiting politician" who hates the country and its president. Rubio said Rasool was expelled as South Africa's ambassador to Washington. 

Dr Lubna Nadvi, an academic and researcher based in the Political Science and International Relations at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN), said it will be intriguing to see how South Africa proceeds to handle the situation.

Nadvi said that bilateral diplomatic relations between two countries observe and maintain a certain degree of diplomatic decorum to ensure that the engagement remains cordial and sustainable.

“The current US administration, however, has come to view South Africa in a particular light and so what has historically been very strong diplomatic and economic ties are coming under some strain in recent times,” Nadvi said. 

Nadvi said the language used by Rasool in terms of the comments he made would be understood in a South African context as part of regular political polemic, but the current American government would not take kindly to this type of rhetoric, given its ideological framework.

“The situation of expelling Rasool is unfortunate, and it requires that the South African government step in to address the ongoing interaction between itself and the US administration so that diplomatic ties can be managed, restored, and strengthened if possible.” 

Nadvi said the stance of the current US government on many issues makes it difficult for most governments to have a working relationship with it.  

Political scientist Professor Susan Booysen said that as a diplomat, you do not quite speak your mind, adding that Rasool could have overstepped the mark. 

“I think nobody should be surprised about the outcome. You cannot, as rules of the diplomatic game conduct yourself like that, never mind if you agree or not with Donald Trump. To add insult to injury, the Trump administration chose to use social media to announce the news instead of engaging with the South African government diplomatically," Booysen said. 

Dr Yacoob Abba Omar, director operations at MISTRA, said they noted the implications of changes in the US administration for South Africa and Africa, and hope these issues will be resolved in the interest of the peoples of both countries. 

Omar said that among the topics MISTRA thought would be useful to analyse was what is happening to American institutions, whether the checks and balances thought to be the bedrock of the political system are functioning, and what that means for the US society.

"What are we to make of developments in domestic politics in the US, where shutting down of government departments in the name of efficiency, the release of people convicted for their involvement in the January 6, 2022, insurrection; the firing of senior government officials, including in the security establishment, the repudiation of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives, the reversals of gender rights?" Omar asked. 

Omar said MISTRA has been researching and reflecting on Africa’s place in the world for as long as it has been in existence. Its latest edited collection on this theme, published in 2022, is titled “Reflections on Africa’s place in the world”.

"It follows other edited collections assessing Africa’s challenges and opportunities in shifting geopolitical conditions," he said. 

The South African Presidency stated that it noted the regrettable expulsion of Rasool. However, it urged 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," stated the Presidency. 

zainul.dawood@inl.co.za