US-South Africa Relations at Risk as Trump Expels Ambassador

WASHINGTON: Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk, a close ally of Donald Trump, has criticized South African President Cyril Ramaphosa’s government, accusing it of enforcing “openly racist ownership laws.”

Musk’s remarks have reignited debates over land ownership in post-apartheid South Africa, a highly contentious issue. Nearly three decades after the end of apartheid, most farmland remains under white ownership.

The South African government has faced mounting pressure to implement reforms aimed at redistributing land and addressing historical inequalities.

President Ramaphosa previously described his initial engagement with Trump as positive. He recalled a “wonderful” conversation at the G20 summit in South Africa shortly after Trump took office in January 2017.

However, he later admitted that relations between the two administrations “went off the rails.”

Meanwhile, U.S. Senator Marco Rubio shared an article from conservative outlet Breitbart, highlighting comments made by Ebrahim Rasool, a former South African ambassador to the U.S.

In a livestream discussion on foreign policy, Rasool reportedly accused Trump’s ‘Make America Great Again’ movement of being rooted in white supremacism. He argued that Trump’s “disrespect” for the global order was based on racial motivations.

Rasool, a veteran anti-apartheid activist, has also drawn controversy for his stance on the Israeli military campaign in Gaza.

In a recent interview with Zeteo, he described the Palestinian experience as an intensified version of apartheid, calling it ‘apartheid on steroids.’

His comments align with South Africa’s broader criticism of Israel’s actions, a stance that has led to diplomatic tensions.

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