International Relations Minister Ronald Lamola said the correct diplomatic processes were not followed to expel South Africa’s ambassador to the United States, Ebrahim Rasool.
This follows the expulsion of Rasool by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Friday.
Rubio wrote on Elon Musk’s social media platform X that Rasool “is no longer welcome in our great country” and that the country considers him “persona non grata”.
He described Rasool as a “race-baiting politician who hates America and hates Potus (the president of the United States)”.
Lamola said the department will comply with the decision and continue to engage with the US.
“We regret that this incident of withdrawing and expelling him without the normal process and diplomacy that is supposed to follow. So, there is nothing more now that you can really do. A decision has been taken by a sovereign state to expel him and given him a period within which he must come back or leave the US,” Lamola said.
“We will comply with that process, and that’s why I’m saying we will look into all the processes of transition and look into all processes of engagements with Washington, and there are some issues that we will raise obviously behind closed doors that don’t continue to sit well with.
“I believe they also have issues to raise with us that don’t sit well with them, and we hope that thrashing out the issues can lead to resetting the good relations that always existed between the two countries,” Lamola said.
On Saturday, independent political analyst Marisa Lourenço said South Africa and US relations are “deteriorating rapidly”.
“I think it’s worth noting that the US is trying to force change in South Africa because it needs the latter. We don’t see the US behaving in the same way to African countries that have a much more pronounced anti-US, anti-Western rhetoric.
“If the US didn’t need South Africa, it would simply ignore it. Many US businesses are in South Africa, and many more use the country as the gateway to the rest of the sub-Saharan African region. So I don’t see this as the end to US-South Africa ties, even though it is a difficult time and will likely continue to be,” Lourenço said.
“I think it’s fair to say that the US has been bullying South Africa to try to affect policy change. But I think it is also fair to say that Rasool’s comments were inappropriate. It’s undiplomatic for an ambassador to call the leader of his host country a supremacist.
“Others may argue, why not call a spade a spade? Certainly, parts of the Trump administration’s rhetoric is underpinned by a certain rhetoric. But I would counter that and say, ‘why behave in the same manner?’ Why antagonise the US at such a tense time and behave as erratically?” Lourenço said.