South African envoy calls his US expulsion “badge of dignity”

By Eugene Nicklaus S. Laqui

Former South African Ambassador Ebrahim Rasool recently arrived at the Cape Town International Airport with his head held high, stating that his expulsion from the United States was a “badge of dignity” and a wake-up call for the South African government to reassess its ties with the US.

A hero against the US

Rasool was accompanied by his wife and was given a hero’s welcome by his supporters and members of various political groups who hailed the stance of the expelled diplomat against the questionable policies of the administration of US President Donald Trump.

Rasool received criticism after branding the Make America Great Again movement, better known as MAGA, a “supremacist instinct” by the Trump administration during a webinar he attended, BBC reported.

“A declaration of persona non grata is meant to humiliate you. But when you return to crowds like this, and with warmth … like this, then I will wear my persona non grata as a badge of dignity,” Rasool declared during his address at the airport to his supporters.

The 62-year-old diplomat added that his comments against the MAGA movement have been misinterpreted and were a call towards the South African government to review its current relations with the US given its hefty sanctions from Washington.

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Struck a nerve

US State Secretary Marco Rubio called out the seasoned South African diplomat for his “anti-American” remarks ever since Trump returned to the White House and then slapped Rasool with a persona non grata ruling, marking a rare move by Washington, which further plunged the diplomatic ties of the US and South Africa.

Rubio went on criticizing Rasool and called him a “race-baiting politician who hates America.”

US-South African relations on the rocks

The bilateral relations between the US and South Africa had been icy over the past few months after the latter nation approved a law that would allow its government to seize any land without compensation that is part of the “public interest.”

Despite receiving praise from local communities and activists, others have condemned it, claiming that the ruling will target the minority population of white Afrikaners, which the South African government denied.

The US swiftly protested South Africa’s newest land policy by cutting its foreign aid and implementing sanctions until the African nation retracts the controversial land law that has led to the further deterioration of their once gleaming diplomatic partnership.

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