US Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced Friday that South Africa's ambassador to Washington had been declared persona non-grata, a sign of further deterioration in relations between the two countries.
In a statement posted on X, Rubio said that South Africa's ambassador to the United States, Ebrahim Rasool, is "no longer welcome in our great country."
"Ebrahim Rasool is a racially inflammatory politician who hates America and hates @POTUS [President of the United States]."
There was no immediate response from the South African Embassy in Washington.
Rubio's move comes amid strained relations between the United States and South Africa. President Donald Trump recently signed an executive order suspending aid to South Africa over its controversial land-grabbing policies, which Trump said could lead to the takeover of white-owned farmland. Trump also said South African farmers were welcome to settle in the United States.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, in a statement posted on X, defended his government's actions.
"We are guided by the Constitution, which places a responsibility on the state to take steps to redress the effects of past racial discrimination," he said.
"We have raised concerns about the misrepresentation of the situation in South Africa, as well as some of our laws and foreign policy positions," Ramaphosa said after Trump signed the executive order in early February
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