Trump envoy nomination irritates South Africa

(MENAFN) Diplomatic tensions between South Africa and the United States have deepened following US President Donald Trump's nomination of Leo Brent Bozell III as the new ambassador to Pretoria, according to South African legislator Nqobile Mhlongo. Mhlongo, a commissar with the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), suggested that the timing of the nomination—coming shortly after South Africa's ambassador Ebrahim Rasool was expelled from Washington—appears to be a strategic move by Trump to pressure South Africa into alignment with US interests.

Mhlongo argued that Trump's nomination of Bozell was not only an assertion of authority but also a direct response to South Africa's pro-Palestinian stance, particularly in light of Pretoria's recent genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice. She suggested that the new US ambassador could use his position to undermine South Africa’s position on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The tensions were further fueled by Trump's executive orders calling for South Africa to reverse key domestic policies, including land reform and health insurance bills, as well as other actions aimed at addressing historical injustices. Mhlongo strongly rejected US attempts to influence South Africa’s sovereign policies, stating that the country is not a "satellite state" of the US.

Additionally, the US halted all federal funding to South Africa due to a controversial expropriation law intended to address land ownership disparities from the apartheid era, a move which Trump criticized as unjustly seizing agricultural property from white South Africans.

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