The tensions between the US and South Africa have risen a notch as the US announced that South Africa's ambassador to the US would no longer be welcome in the country.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio tweeted: "South Africa's Ambassador to the United States is no longer welcome in our great country. Ebrahim Rasool is a race-baiting politician who hates America and hates POTUS. We have nothing to discuss with him and so he is considered PERSONA NON GRATA."
Rubio linked to Breitbart's article on Rasool's speech claiming that US President Donald Trump is leading the "global white supremacist movement" in his tweet.
"What Donald Trump is launching is an assault on incumbency, those who are in power, by mobilizing a supremacism against the incumbency, at home, and — I think I’ve illustrated — abroad as well," Rasool said in his speech. "So in terms of that, the supremacist assault on incumbency, we see it in the domestic politics of the USA, the MAGA movement, the Make America Great Again movement, as a response not simply to a supremacist instinct, but to very clear data that shows great demographic shifts in the USA in which the voting electorate in the USA is projected to become 48% white."
Last month, US President Donald Trump signed an executive order to reduce US financial aid to South Africa, in response to South Africa’s land policies and its genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
The White House cited South Africa’s genocide case at the ICJ — where it accused Israel of committing genocide in Gaza — as a key reason for the executive order.
Washington also referenced South Africa’s ties with Iran as another factor influencing the decision.