South Africa‘s ambassador to the United States, Ebrahim Rasool, has until Friday to leave the country.
Rasool is still in the U.S., according to the South African Foreign Ministry, even after Secretary of State Marco Rubio expelled him and gave him “persona non grata” status. It is a rare occurrence in U.S. history to expel such a high-ranking diplomat.
The deadline comes a week after Rasool’s online lecture to a South African think tank. During his comments, he criticized President Donald Trump and suggested the president’s “disrespect” for the “current hegemonic order” comes from white supremacy.
“I think, at the very least, what we should expect, is a standard of some respect, basic, low-level respect, if you’re in a position that is going to help facilitate any kind of diplomatic relationship with another country,” State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce said Monday. “This particular individual certainly didn’t meet that standard, and it is a message to people of what America expects, what the President expects, what the Secretary of State expects, what this whole administration expects when it comes to treatment of the nation itself, and as a result, of the people in this country.”
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Tensions between the U.S. and South Africa have come to a head as the countries took sides in the conflict between Hamas and Israel. South Africa was behind the International Court of Justice case against Israel over the alleged genocide of Palestinians in Gaza.
Since taking office, Trump publicly condemned South Africa’s Expropriation Act, which allows the confiscation of private property without reimbursement. The legislation allegedly targets white South African farmers. Already, the population has been subjected to murders as recently as 2020, which sparked riots and accusations that the murders were evidence of an attempted genocide. The murder of Brendin Horner in October of that year ended in the two suspects being acquitted due to a lack of evidence.