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Ebrahim Rasool will return to South Africa and provide the president with a full report.
President Cyril Ramaphosa at the Nieuwmeester Dome in Cape Town on 12 March 2025. Picture: Gallo Images/Jeffrey Abrahams
South Africa’s ambassador to the United States (US), Ebrahim Rasool, will soon return to the country following his expulsion, says President Cyril Ramaphosa.
Rasool was declared an “undesirable person” by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Friday after he made remarks accusing President Donald Trump’s administration of supremacism.
The diplomat, who previously served as the US ambassador from 2010 to 2015 under former US president Barack Obama, was given 72 hours to leave the North American country.
His comments have further strained relations between South Africa and the US, with Trump already having cut financial aid to South Africa due to the government’s foreign policy and certain laws, such as the Expropriation Act.
Ramaphosa on Ebrahim Rasool’s expulsion
Speaking to the media on the sidelines of the Bana Pele Summit in Johannesburg on Monday, Ramaphosa confirmed that Rasool would return to South Africa and provide him with a full report on the situation.
“I will wait for a full report from him,” said Ramaphosa.
The president acknowledged the US government’s “displeasure” over Rasool’s statements, stating that South Africa would continue diplomatic engagements despite rising tensions.
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“We will engage with them as we are already engaging with them, and the engagement with them continues and is going to take a variety of forms.
“It is going to be through envoys, going to be through people either from the business community, labour, and a whole number of others, also from government,” Ramaphosa said.
Maintaining relations with the US
Ramaphosa reiterated that strengthening relations with the US remains a priority for South Africa.
“They are our second-largest trading partner after China, and we will therefore seek, as we must, to ensure that our relations are on a good footing, which is one thing that we do with all countries in the world.
“South Africa seeks always to have good relations with all countries in the world. We don’t have enemies in the world. We always seek to have very good and friendly relations.”
READ MORE: ‘Rasool had one job… he was clearly a red flag to a bull for Trump’ – expert
He acknowledged that diplomatic relations sometimes experience challenges.
“As they go through their ups and downs, the responsible thing to do by any nation is to make sure that you deal with the challenges that are there, you straighten out the difficulties, and we’ve always found that when there are such challenges, and we engage, we do find solutions.
“So this is precisely what we are now going to do, and this is our job. This is our responsibility as a government to advance the interests of our country as well as the interests of the people of South Africa.”
Ebrahim Rasool’s expulsion not a major setback — Ramaphosa
Addressing speculation that South Africa is being ignored by the US, Ramaphosa dismissed the claims.
“We are not being ignored. We are continuing to engage with them, and as it is now, a great deal of progress had been made by our ambassador in straightening out the path to ensure that there is meaningful engagement at the diplomatic level.”
He described Rasool’s expulsion as a minor diplomatic hurdle.
“This is a hiccup, a hiccup that we are working on straightening out. So we are not being blue-ticked.”
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Ramaphosa also confirmed that South Africa had received official communication from the US regarding Rasool’s expulsion.
“They have sent a message. They sent a note verbale to inform us about the action that they took, so that shows that they have formalised the communication.
“So we are not being blue-ticked. We are being recognised much as it first came out in a tweet, but it did finally come out in a formal communication, and we will engage with the United States of America in a formal way.
“We will do so with deep respect for them and for President Trump as well,” he added.
Despite the current setback, Ramaphosa remains optimistic about the future of US-South Africa relations.
“Our relations with the United States are going to be put on an even keel.
“I would like the people of South Africa not to have sleepless nights and have peaceful nights knowing that we are working on ensuring that this relationship is put on good footing going forward because we trade together.”
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