Ebrahim Rasool returns to South Africa after controversial US expulsion

Former South African Ambassador to the United States, Ebrahim Rasool arrived in Cape Town on Sunday. 

The former Ambassador was greeted as a hero and was surrounded by South Africans and family members. 

Rasool told South Africans that he would not harbour any ill towards the US and their president. 

He said that SA has had a strong relationship with the US for over 50 years and this was not just with the White House but with Congress and most importantly the people of the US.

He stressed that this relationship should continue to be fostered despite his removal from the country. 

What happened? 

Rasool’s arrival came after US Secretary of State, Marco Rubio booted him out of the country, declaring him “persona non grata” following his comments made in a webinar, criticising the Trump administration.

The US government told Rasool earlier this month that he had a week to finalise his plans and leave the United States. 

This marks the latest development in the rapidly deteriorating bilateral relations between the United States of America and South Africa.

Rasool, the former Premier of the Western Cape, is supposed to be a seasoned diplomat. 

He just served as South Africa’s ambassador to the United States for the second time. 

He first served as South Africa’s ambassador to the US from 2010 until 2015 when the friendly Barack Obama was the US president. 

Then his second and short-lived stint in 2025 coincided with the more hostile Trump taking reigns on January 20, 2025, to start his delayed second term as President.

Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) in the Western Cape said that they vowed to give Rasool a hero’s welcome. 

Malvern de Bruyn, Cosatu’s provincial secretary in the Western Cape made the remarks over the weekend after the conclusion of the union’s sixth provincial conference.

“As Cosatu, we are saying that Ebrahim Rasool is one of us. He is a child of the soil,” De Bruyn said.

The trade union said Rasool’s expulsion issue is part of the international resolutions adopted at the federation’s congress.

“We decided in this meeting, in this congress, that when he (Rasool) arrives in the Western Cape, that we will go out in our numbers to the Cape Town International Airport to welcome him back to this province,” he said.

The union strongly opposed what it sees as the Trump administration’s unjust treatment of the South Africa government to expel its ambassador to the US.

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