South African envoy returns home “with no regrets”

”We would have preferred to come to South Africa with secured deals with the US,” Rasool told the gathering. “But we could not do so by allowing the US to choose who must be our friends and who must be our enemies.”

Rasool acknowledged that South Africa was unable to counter what he described as “lies of a white genocide” in the country. He also emphasised that South Africa could not maintain its African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) benefits from the US by withdrawing its genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

“Because as we stand here, the bombing has continued and the shooting has continued, and if South Africa was not in the ICJ, Israel would not be exposed, and the Palestinians would have no hope,” he added.

Despite his expulsion, Rasool stressed that South Africa was not anti-American. “We come here even after being declared persona non grata. We still come here and say, we must rebuild and we must reset the relationship with America,” he stated.

Rasool rejected simplistic approaches to US-South Africa relations, saying: “We cannot have a simplistic idea that you must put a white ambassador for a white president” in the US.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio declared Rasool persona non grata last week after the ambassador, during a webinar hosted by the South African Mapungubwe Institute for Strategic Reflection, accused President Trump of pursuing “a white supremacist response to growing demographic diversity in the United States.”

The diplomatic row comes amid escalating tensions between Washington and Pretoria. Last month, President Trump signed an executive order cutting US financial assistance to South Africa, citing concerns about its land expropriation law, the genocide case against Israel at the ICJ, and South Africa’s deepening ties with Iran.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​