US expels South African ambassador

According to Al-Mayadeen, the South African presidency announced in a statement: "We have learned that unfortunately the US has expelled our country's ambassador to Washington, "Ibrahim Rasool."

The statement said: "We call on all parties concerned to adhere to diplomatic etiquette in dealing with this issue, and our country remains committed to building relations based on mutual benefits with the United States."

The South African presidency also described the expulsion of the country's ambassador from the US in a statement as "regrettable" and called on all relevant authorities to deal with the matter with courtesy and respect.

Earlier, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio wrote on the social network X: [Ibrahim Rasoul] South Africa's ambassador to the United States is no longer accepted and welcomed in our great country.

He added: Ibrahim Rasoul is a politician who incites racial issues and hates America and its president. We have no talks with him and he is considered an undesirable element.

Ibrahim Rasoul presented his credentials to former US President Joe Biden on January 13, about a week before the start of the Donald Trump administration. Rasoul began his second term as ambassador to the US on that date.

Rasool is a former anti-apartheid campaigner who served time in prison for his activism and went on to become a politician in the African National Congress, the party of Nelson Mandela, the country’s first post-apartheid president.

US-South African relations have been strained in recent months, and Washington has cut off financial aid to the African country. The US has criticized South Africa's territorial policy and the African country's complaint against the Zionist regime at the International Criminal Court.

The Pretoria government had previously announced that it would not engage in unconstructive diplomacy "behind the loudspeaker" with the United States, following the continued interventionist stance of US President Donald Trump in South Africa's internal affairs.

This stance by the South African government was raised after Trump once again claimed on social media that the Pretoria government was confiscating white land. Trump also claimed that the United States was ready to grant US citizenship to white South African farmers who lose their land.

The South African government has emphasized that the US president has a wrong understanding of the new land confiscation law in South Africa. Trump's alleged concern about the confiscation of white farmers' land is not his only excuse for cutting aid to South Africa, but rather the main reason for Trump's dissatisfaction with South Africa is the Pretoria government's actions and legal pursuit against the crimes of the Zionist regime.

US President Donald Trump has claimed, without providing any evidence, that “South Africa has confiscated land” and treated “certain classes of people” “very badly.”

Elon Musk, the head of the Trump administration’s Office of Efficiency, has also claimed that white South Africans are victims of “racist property laws.”

Land ownership remains a contentious issue in South Africa, with most farmland still owned by whites three decades after the end of apartheid and the government under pressure to implement reforms.

More than three decades after white minority rule ended, South Africa remains hugely unequal, with land and wealth still largely concentrated among white people, who make up 7% of the population, about half native Afrikaans speakers, while black people are 81%.