By Paul Vecchiatto.
South Africa is on the verge of appointing a new ambassador to the United States — a post that has been vacant for months. During that time, President Donald Trump has criticised Pretoria’s Black empowerment and foreign policies and imposed punitive tariffs on its imports.
“We will be appointing a well-versed and well-rounded person as ambassador to the US,” with the candidate’s name to be finalized and made public soon, President Cyril Ramaphosa told lawmakers in Cape Town on Tuesday. The new envoy will know the American market extremely well, he said.
Trump has falsely accused South Africa’s government of subjecting White Afrikaner farmers to genocide and seizing their land, criticised Pretoria’s relations with Iran and Hamas, and paused most aid.
Last month, South African exports of citrus fruit, vehicles and other products to the US were slapped with 30% levies, the highest rate imposed on goods from any nation in sub-Saharan Africa.
South Africa has been without an ambassador to the US since Ebrahim Rasool was expelled in March.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio declared Rasool persona non gratia after he described Trump and his supporters as a “supremacist” movement projecting “White victimhood.”
Shifting global geopolitics has left many countries scratching their heads to find “the most suitable people that they can deploy in various markets and to get people with the necessary skills, know-how, and experience, “Ramaphosa said, adding that his administration was itself awaiting word from Washington on who it would deploy as an ambassador to South Africa.