Pretoria’s dumpster fire diplomacy with the United States continues. In the span of a week, South Africa had its ambassador to the United States expelled, its largest city doubled down on naming a major street after a Palestinian terrorist, and its treasury allocated additional money for a lawfare campaign against an American ally.
In a March 14 address to a South African think tank, Ambassador Ebrahim Rasool accused the Trump administration of being “nativist” and “racist.” The embattled ambassador returned to Cape Town and again accused Trump of racism this Sunday. If Pretoria was trying to repair relations with Washington, it failed.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio declared Rasool persona non grata shortly after the ambassador’s think tank speech and called him a “race-baiting politician who hates America” and President Trump. Rasool was already reportedly blacklisted by the administration and many in Washington. Perhaps he was trying to go out as a martyr.
It certainly didn’t endear him in Washington that he hosted senior Hamas leader Mohammed Nazzal in 2007 or that he previously compared Trump to the Islamic State in 2017.
But Rasool is just the tip of the iceberg for the South African political shipwreck.
South Africa’s recently passed land expropriation law drew President Trump’s ire in the form of a February 7 executive order cutting aid to the African country. The executive order also cited South Africa’s ties with Iran and its lawfare campaign against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) as additional causes for concern.
The ICJ case began under curious circumstances. South Africa’s ruling African National Congress (ANC) party was in dire financial straits prior to Hamas’s atrocities on October 7, 2023.
Two weeks later, South Africa’s foreign minister visited Tehran. Soon enough, the ANC’s financial troubles disappeared. In January 2024, Pretoria launched its case against Israel at the ICJ, falsely accusing Israel of genocide in its defensive war against Hamas. A group of 160 lawyers has called for an investigation.
It may be a coincidence, and the allegation of Iranian interference has not been independently verified. Moreover, criticizing Israel is nothing new for Pretoria. And perhaps it was a coincidence that eleven days after Nomvula Mokonyane, the ANC’s first deputy secretary-general, hosted the Iranian ambassador to South Africa at the ANC’s headquarters on March 4, the South African treasury allocated another roughly $2 million to the ICJ case, bringing its total expenditure to over $7 million.
Mokonyane called Iran a “fraternal” country that she is “proud to associate with” and declared, “We can’t hide our friends.” Certainly, an investigation is warranted.
And while Pretoria is cozying up to Iran, South Africa’s government is also growing closer to other adversaries of the United States, including Russia and China.
Despite South African President Cyril Ramaphosa’s declared intention of mending ties with Washington, Ramaphosa coauthored a Foreign Policy op-ed on February 25 reaffirming his commitment to “accountability for Israel’s crimes,” a euphemism for skewering Israel at the ICJ.
And if that weren’t enough, on March 13, the Johannesburg City Council upheld an earlier decision to rename the city’s iconic Sandton Drive, which hosts the U.S. consulate, after Palestinian terrorist Leila Khaled. Khaled gained notoriety for participating in hijackings in 1969 and 1970, pulling the pins out of two grenades in one of the attacks.
The councilor who originally proposed the name change in 2018 posted a picture of himself after Hamas’s October 7 Massacre holding an assault rifle with the caption, “We stand with Hamas.” This was mild compared to what happened during last Thursday’s vote.
When a Jewish councilor gave a speech wearing a kippah featuring a Star of David and donning items with the Israeli flag on them, a colleague vowed to come wearing a “shirt with the face of Hitler.” The offending councilor proceeded to chant, “We want Hitler!”
If Johannesburg renames Sandton Drive, the United States should shut down its consulate. U.S. stationery should not have to bear the address of 1 Leila Khaled Drive.
Pretoria must stop supporting terrorism, lashing out at American leaders, cozying up to our enemies, and attacking our allies. South Africa must make drastic changes if it wants to improve relations with the United States.
David Mayis a research manager and senior research analyst at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), a Washington, DC-based, nonpartisan research institute focusing on national security and foreign policy. Follow David on X@DavidSamuelMay. Follow FDD on X@FDD.