Coming to South Africa: US Senate confirms anti-ANC activist Leo Brent Bozell III as incoming ambassador
US Ambassador-designate Brent Bozell III will arrive in South Africa with a priority list which includes challenging Pretoria’s foreign policy direction towards China, and overseeing a contentious Afrikaner refugee program
Image: Screenshot
The United States Senate has formally confirmed Leo Brent Bozell III as the US ambassador-designate to South Africa. This move transitions his controversial "priority list" from the campaign of a nominee to the official mandate of a confirmed envoy.
The 53–43 party-line vote on Thursday, 18 December 2025, comes at what diplomats describe as the most dangerous crossroads in bilateral relations since 1994. While Bozell now holds the title of ambassador-designate, he will enter the mission in South Africa, currently engulfed in a diplomatic firestorm following the raid at a US "refugee" facility in Johannesburg and the deportation of Kenyan staff from the centre — incidents Washington has labelled as "unacceptable harassment".
Mandate for Confrontation
In October, IOL reported that Bozell had issued a warning that Washington believes Pretoria is moving closer to China and promised to stop what he called South Africa's "geostrategic drift" in the direction of America's international rivals.
At the time, Bozell promised to "communicate our objections to South Africa's geostrategic drift from non-alignment toward our competitors, including Russia, China, and Iran" if appointed as Washington's top diplomat in Pretoria during his appearance before the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Following the confirmation, Bozell will arrive in Pretoria with a clear directive to execute a three-pronged strategy that directly challenges Pretoria’s current foreign policy pillars:
The China Pivot: Bozell is tasked with aggressively curbing South Africa’s geostrategic drift toward the China-Russia-Iran axis. His confirmation empowers him to leverage US trade influence to counter Chinese dominance in local infrastructure and energy sectors.
The ICJ ‘lawfare’: No longer just a nominee's opinion, Bozell now carries official instructions to press the South African government to withdraw its genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), a case he has branded "lawfare" designed to destabilise Western interests.
Afrikaner Refugees: Bozell will oversee the implementation of the 2026 refugee quota, which explicitly prioritises Afrikaners. This program, which the Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO) has rejected as being built on a "false narrative" of racial persecution, has already led to a "tit-for-tat" escalation following the raid on the US Afrikaner refugee processing centre in Johannesburg earlier this week.
A Relationship at Boiling Point
The context of Bozell’s arrival is historically volatile. On the day of his confirmation, on Thursday, the US State Department, through the embassy in Pretoria, issued a scathing condemnation, accusing South African authorities of "doxxing" US officials by leaking their passport information following the raid.
"Failure by the South African government to hold those responsible accountable will result in severe consequences," the State Department warned, signaling that Bozell may arrive not as a traditional diplomat, but as a messenger of impending sanctions or further trade restrictions.
This follows a string of unprecedented escalations throughout 2025:
G20 Exclusion: The US has effectively barred South Africa from the 2026 G20 meetings it will host, citing Pretoria's "anti-American" alignment.
Trade Reciprocity: The implementation of 30% "reciprocal tariffs" on South African exports has already begun to strain the local automotive and agricultural sectors.
The ‘Designate’ Limbo
Despite his confirmation in Washington, Bozell remains the Ambassador-designate. Under strict diplomatic protocol, he cannot perform official acts or formally represent the US government until he presents his Letters of Credence to President Cyril Ramaphosa.
Given Bozell’s history as an anti-ANC activist - notably his 1980s membership in the "Coalition Against ANC Terrorism" - the timing of this ceremony will be the ultimate litmus test.
If Pretoria chooses to signal its displeasure with the "doxxing" accusations or Bozell's own rhetoric, it could leave him in a state of "protocol limbo" for months, effectively silencing the US voice at the highest levels of government during a period of critical instability.
jonisayi.maromo@iol.co.za
IOL News