The diplomat is now “Persona non grata” in Washington. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Friday, March 14, that the South African Ambassador to the United States was “The more welcome” in the American capital, accusing it in particular of “Haïr” Donald Trump.
Ebrahim Rasool “Nourishes racial tensions, hates the United States and hates the president” Donald Trump, wrote Marco Rubio on X, adding that the South African diplomat was now considered as “Persona non grata”.
Ebrahim Rasool became the South African ambassador in Washington in January 2025, a position he has already held in the past.
Ramaphosa admits that “everything seemed to derail” with Trump
This decision is part of a context of hardening of relations between the United States and South Africa. Since his return to the White House in January, Donald Trump has accused Pretoria of treating “Unjust” descendants of European settlers, even creating an asylum procedure in the United States for “Afrikaners refugees”.
In addition to cutting all help in South Africa, he had decided that the United States would encourage “Reinstallation” of these, “Fleeing racial discrimination encouraged by the government”according to him.
Elon Musk, a native of South Africa and powerful ally of Donald Trump, also accused the South African government of discrimination against white populations.
In February, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said he wanted to go to the United States, recognizing that “Everything seemed to derail” Between him and Donald Trump since a first call between the two men, when the American president returns to power.