US declares South African ambassador persona non grata

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio declared South Africa's Ambassador to the US, Ebrahim Rasool, persona non grata on Friday after his remarks about US President Donald Trump.

In a post on X, Rubio accused Rasool of being a "race-baiting politician" and said the US has "nothing to discuss with him."

"South Africa's Ambassador to the United States is no longer welcome in our great country. Emrahim Rasool is a race-baiting politician who hates America and hates @POTUS. We have nothing to discuss with him and so he is considered PERSONA NON GRATA," Rubio wrote.

Rubio shared a link to a Breitbart article covering remarks Rasool made at a foreign policy seminar earlier Friday, when he said Trump is "mobilizing a supremacism against the incumbency" at home and abroad.

The State Department has yet to issue an official statement regarding the decision.

The South African Embassy in Washington, D.C. did not immediately respond to the announcement.

The move comes amid escalating tensions between Washington and Pretoria. Trump signed an executive order last month cutting US financial assistance to South Africa, citing concerns about its land expropriation law, a genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and deepening ties with Iran.

The decision also follows criticism from South Africa-born billionaire Elon Musk, whom Trump has leading the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE. Musk has accused the South African government of enforcing "openly racist ownership laws" and suggested white citizens are victims of discrimination.