By Abayomi Azikiwe
Republic of South Africa diplomat Ebrahim Rasool was declared persona non grata by the United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio on March 14.
Relations between Pretoria and Washington have deteriorated even further in recent years under both the administrations of former President Joe Biden and his successor, Donald J. Trump.
Rubio described Rasool as a “race-baiting” political figure who is not welcome in the U.S. The Secretary of State then went on to say that Rasool hated Trump and the country he purportedly represents.
These developments represent a continuing pattern of hostile attacks on various states throughout the world by the Trump administration. Even those considered longtime allies of the U.S. have been subjected to tariffs and other forms of economic warfare.
Canada, which shares a long border with the U.S., has been slapped with 25% tariffs on numerous strategic resources and commodities. In response, Canadian merchants have been removing U.S.-imported products from the shelves as hostility towards Washington has reached unprecedented levels.
In regard to South Africa, the U.S. has halted all humanitarian assistance while falsely claiming that the white minority were being subjected to land seizures and genocide by the African majority. These accusations have been rejected by the African National Congress (ANC)-led Government of National Unity (GNU) which has been attempting to resolve its difference with Washington diplomatically.
President Cyril Ramaphosa said that the expulsion of Rasool was “regrettable” urging other diplomatic personnel to maintain their decorum in dealing with the current crisis. Nevertheless, people inside South Africa have been angered by the actions of the Trump administration saying that Rasool’s expulsion was completely unjustified.
Rasool, who is 62 years old, was born in 1962 in Cape Town. His family was forced to move when he was a child after the area in which they lived was designated for “whites only.” Rasool was born into a Muslim household, while being labeled as a person of mixed race (Colored). These categories were designed by the former apartheid system to maintain their divide and rule strategy inside the country. Rasool became an activist during his high school and university years when he would join the revolutionary movement fighting apartheid for national liberation.
Diplomat Has Background in the Anti-Apartheid Struggle
During the mid-1980s, Rasool became an organizer for the United Democratic Front (UDF) and ANC Youth League (ANCYL). He became a target of the apartheid regime and was imprisoned for his activist work.
After the first nonracial democratic elections in April 1994, Rasool was elected to the Western Cape Provincial Legislature. He served as a Member of the Executive Council (MEC) for Health and Social Services from 1994 to 1998. In 1998, Rasool was elected Provincial Chairperson of the ANC. In later years he was selected as the MEC for Finance and Economic Development in 2001 and maintained the position until his appointment as the 5th Premier of the Western Cape in April 2004.
In 2010, Rasool was appointed as the South African Ambassador to the U.S. He served with distinction for five years until his recent order of expulsion by Rubio.
Since the Russian Special Military Operations in Ukraine, relations between Pretoria and Washington have worsened. The government of President Ramaphosa has been adamant about the need for a diplomatic resolution to the war. This has been the position of the 55-member African Union (AU) since the situation in Ukraine has disrupted agricultural trade and aggravated food deficits on the continent.
Under the previous Biden White House, Washington accused the South African government of selling arms to the Russian Federation during 2022. Despite the fact that there was no evidence to support these allegations by the U.S., the Biden administration never retracted its claims or issued an apology to the South African government.
Land Reform and the GNU
The system of racial oppression in South Africa was based upon settler-colonialism which encompassed the gross economic exploitation of the African population. African traditional lands were seized by the European settlers who mainly originated from the Netherlands and Britain.
A series of wars were fought between the African population and European settlers between the 17th and 19th centuries. In 1910, the so-called Union of South Africa was formed which gave most of the arable land to the Europeans. The discovery of gold and diamonds in South Africa and neighboring territories in the 19th century set the stage for mass dislocation and the imposition of a system of color discrimination.
Between 1910 and 1948, the British settlers were the politically dominant grouping inside the country. Just three years after the conclusion of World War II, the Boers (Afrikaners) through their National Party became the absolute political force in South Africa.
From 1948 to the 1970s, a series of political developments occurred in South Africa aimed at solidifying the dominance of the racist capitalist system. In 1950, the Suppression of Communism Act was passed by the apartheid legislature enhancing the undemocratic character of the state.
Later the Defiance of Unjust Laws Campaign during 1952-1956 resulted in the Treason Trials (1956-1960) where over 150 activists from the oppressed African, Indian-Asian, mixed race communities and progressive whites had formed an alliance to protest the apartheid laws. Although the defendants in the Treason Trials of the period were all acquitted, this did not resolve the need for a nonracial democratic system. In August 1955, the Congress of the People was held in Kliptown where the Freedom Charter was drafted, designed to provide an alternative political program to the settler-colonial apartheid system.
One of the major demands of the Freedom Charter is that the land should belong to those who work it. Land reform has been one of the most contentious questions in the national liberation movements throughout Africa since the 1950s and 1960s. Even after the democratic breakthrough of 1994, the establishment of a land commission and ministry, has still not adequately addressed the necessity of the redistribution of land.
In a recent policy decision by the National Assembly, the Land Expropriation Act was passed in Cape Town. One media source on this new law says:
“In a press release, the president’s office explained that the law will not allow the government to expropriate property ‘arbitrarily or for a purpose other than a public purpose or in the public interest.’ The expropriation authority will be required to enter into negotiations with property owners and provide ‘just and equitable compensation.’ There are some scenarios, however, where the government is not obligated to do so. In an interview with 702’s (radio station) Stephen Grootes, President’s Land Reform Advisory Panel member Bulelwa Mabasa, who also serves as head of land reform at Werksmans, explained that these include abandoned land where the owner is not traceable, as well as land which is solely being held to increase its value. State-held land that is not being used will also be subject to expropriation without compensation.”
After the bill was passed by the National Assembly, the largest party within the GNU, the ANC, issued a statement noting that the new law is a:
“Progressive and transformative tool to advance land reform in ways that enable inclusive economic growth and social cohesion. This is a direct response to the needs of millions of South Africans who have been excluded from land ownership and access to natural resources for far too long. This law is a critical step towards fulfilling the vision articulated in the Freedom Charter, which declared, ‘The land shall be shared among those who work it’.”
The passage of the Expropriation Bill was opposed by the Democratic Alliance (DA), the largest opposition party which garnered approximately half of the electoral support as the ANC in the most recent elections of 2024. When Trump entered the White House for the second time on January 20, this legislative action in South Africa was utilized by the administration to aggravate tensions between the two countries.
Since the DA and other smaller parties represent the interests of the white landowners and corporate magnates, the Trump administration views these events as another opportunity to destabilize the ANC-led GNU administration. This posture from Washington is reminiscent of the role of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in the capture and detention of former ANC President Nelson Mandela in 1962.
Mandela would spend more than 27 years in prison before being released in February 1990. He became the first democratically elected President in 1994 serving one term as head-of-state until 1999.
Trump and his apartheid South African-born assistant Elon Musk are attempting to impose an authoritarian and fascist system of governance in the U.S. The struggle of oppressed and working peoples in the U.S. is therefore closely linked to the right of self-determination, genuine independence and sovereignty of the people of South Africa.
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