News24 | UPDATE | US' expulsion of Rasool 'regrettable', diplomatic decorum must be maintained, says Presidency

South Africa's ambassador to the US, Ebrahim Rasool, is no longer welcome in the US. (Brenton Geach/Gallo Images)

• The US says it considers SA Ambassador to the United States Ebrahim Rasool persona non grata. 
• In a post on X, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Rasool was no longer welcome "in our great country".
• The move came after Rasool accused US President Donald Trump of supremacism.

The Presidency has described the US' expulsion of Ambassador to the United States Ebrahim Rasool as "regrettable".

On Friday night, on X, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio wrote that Rasool "is no longer welcome in our great country" and that the country considers him "persona non grata".

This came after it was reported that Rasool accused US President Donald Trump of supremacism when he addressed the Mapungubwe Institute for Strategic Reflection (Mistra).

The Presidency said in a statement it noted the decision and added: "The Presidency urges all relevant and impacted stakeholders to maintain the established diplomatic decorum in their engagement with the matter."

It said South Africa remained committed to building a mutually beneficial relationship with the US.

In the X post, Rubio accused Rasool of being a "race-baiting politician who hates America and hates @Potus".

He wrote:

Attached was a Breitbart article by Joel Pollack on Rasool's remarks during the Mistra webinar on Friday, which was titled: "Implications of changes in US administration for South Africa and Africa." 

On Saturday, US Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairperson, James E Risch, supported Rubio's stance. 

"I applaud @secrubio for calling out the South African Ambassador's disgraceful, anti-American hate speech. Suffice it to say that he is not cut out for diplomacy," he also posted on X. 

Shortly after Rubio's post, spokesperson for International Relations and Co-operation Minister Ronald Lamola, Chrispin Phiri, also took to X where he posted: "We have noted the tweet by the US Secretary of State, Mr Marco Rubio. We will engage through the diplomatic channel."

This is the latest fallout between SA and the US since the start of the Trump administration. 

In a recent interview with News24, Rasool, who returned to Washington as South Africa's Ambassador in December, said the rocky relationship between the two countries required "calm heads and rational minds".

He served as the ambassador to the US from 2010 to 2015, when Barack Obama was the president.

Rasool told News24 at the time that restoring diplomatic channels with the US was important.

He said the new developments under Trump's administration had provided a new challenge. 

"I think, I think we're in a very unpredictable situation, and we are needing to learn the new rules of the game and, hence, we are acting rather with caution than with bravado because the point of the matter is that we are trying to understand how the new administration works.

"It is difficult because it is unpredictable, because you are learning what is being done through executive orders and you have got to watch Twitter (now known as X). That is a completely different style of diplomacy, and we all have to learn that language," he added.

READ | Open for Dialogue: Rasool welcomes changes with US diplomat Greene's deployment to Pretoria

This comes weeks after Dana Brown reigned as US chargé d'affaires - second in charge to the ambassador - after about a month in the role.

David Greene has since replaced her. 

The Trump administration has yet to appoint an ambassador to South Africa to replace Reuben Brigety, who resigned in January in accordance with standard procedure during a change of administration.