Ramaphosa awaits full report from expelled ambassador Rasool upon return
America’s Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, announced Rasool’s expulsion last Friday on X, accusing him of being a race-baiting politician.
President Cyril Ramaphosa addresses the G20 Finance Minister and Central Bank Governors' Meeting at the CTICC in Cape Town on 26 February 2025. Picture: GCIS
JOHANNESBURG - President Cyril Ramaphosa said he’s expecting a full report from Ambassador Ebrahim Rasool following his expulsion from the United States (US).
America’s Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, announced Rasool’s expulsion last Friday on X, formerly Twitter, accusing him of being a race-baiting politician.
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Ramaphosa confirmed to reporters on Monday morning that the Donald Trump administration had formally and diplomatically communicated Rasool’s expulsion.
However, Ramaphosa insisted that Rasool’s expulsion does not mean the Union Buildings and the White House are now adversaries.
"Improving our relationship with the United States of America is a priority for us. They’re our second-largest trading partner after China."
Ramaphosa said Rasool would share his side of the story when he returns to South Africa.
"He is going to come back and give me a full report. So, I will wait for a full report from him."
Meanwhile, Rubio claimed Rasool harboured animosity towards Trump and said he was not welcome in the country.
NEED TO REPAIR RELATIONS
Ramaphosa has emphasised the urgent need for South Africa to repair its rocky relationship with the United States (US) following a series of diplomatic disputes.
It’s been almost two months since Trump began his second term as US president and in that time, diplomatic ties with South Africa have severely declined.
In the two months, Trump has lamented the Union Buildings for his misinformed belief that Afrikaaner farmers are being mistreated, senior officials in his administration ditched G20 meetings held in Johannesburg and now, Rasool's expulsion from the United States.
Although Ramaphosa acknowledges relations with the White House have been strained, he believes the two countries can still resolve their differences.
“We will therefore seek, as we must, to ensure our relations are on a good footing which is one thing we do with all countries in the world. We don’t have enemies in the world. We always seek to have very good and friendly relations.”
Ramaphosa said the Union Buildings would continue engaging the Trump administration diplomatically, in the hope of ironing out the existing issues.
SA WON’T ESCALATE TENSIONS
The Mapungubwe Institute for Strategic Reflection (MISTRA) believes South Africa won't strike back and escalate tensions following Rasool’s expulsion.
In a speech during a webinar hosted by MISTRA, Rasool said President Donald Trump’s "Make America Great Again" movement was a supremacist assault on US politics that was reacting to the diminishing white voter base.
MISTRA's Na’eem Jeenah said, "I don’t think the ambassador’s speech or his words in the webinar were necessarily unwise. I think that he picked his words very carefully, but the truth and the facts as they were presented, clearly, are not palatable to the current US administration."
Earlier in 2024, the US suspended its President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) funding to South Africa and has openly criticised the country’s Land Expropriation Act.
"Particularly since the executive order against South Africa, South Africa has taken the position that we will not be bullied, that we will act with a sense of dignity. We’re not going to grovel in front of the United States, but at the same time, the South African government seems to have taken the position, which is what Ebrahim Rasool spoke about on Friday, that South Africa will not be antagonistic towards the US, that South Africa will not escalate tension, and that the relationship with the US is important," Jeenah said.