"An ambassador does not sit passively and allow lies to be spread about his country…it’s not an accident that former prominent South Africans are prominent MAGA engineers."
Now "persona non grata" in the United States, former South African Ambassador Ebrahim Rasool sits down for an exclusive interview with Imran Garda in Cape Town.
Rasool opposes Elon Musk and the Trump administration’s claim of Afrikaner persecution and white genocide in his country, and has no regrets about the comments that led to his high profile expulsion from the United States. The former Ambassador explains what he calls the global "phenomenon" of white grievance and supremacism that is being amplified by the Trump administration and addresses the "race-baiter" epithet used by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in his tweet announcing Rasool’s expulsion.
The two discuss the events leading up to his expulsion from the US and Rasool explains why he believes South Africa is being punished by the United States — both economically and politically. He says the country was deemed "impudent" for even thinking of taking US ally Israel to the ICJ and describes how he was told by Trump officials that the door to discussing trade would only open once South Africa retracts its lawsuit at the International Court of Justice. "What hurts the Trump administration is that the last victims of colonialism, apartheid and supremacy, have the first voice against a genocide in the Middle East."
Can South Africa avoid further retribution, while still holding onto its stated values? Or does it have to bend the knee to Trump in order to save itself?
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00:00 Meet Ebrahim Rasool
01:51 On being expelled from the US
03:27 Feeling vulnerable as an ambassador
05:18 Labeled a “race-baiting politician who hates America”
06:52 The MISTRA speech that led to expulsion
10:25 Does Rasool regret it?
12:30 “My analysis was a response to their actions”
13:50 The Trump administration’s white genocide theory
15:02 Elon Musk’s role in this narrative
16:10 Maintaining SA–US relations
18:30 US pressure to drop the ICJ case
21:34 Ramaphosa’s conversation with Rasool post-expulsion
23:19 As the US pulls the aid plug, can China step into the void in SA?
24:00 Being an ambassador: Obama era vs. now
