Johannesburg (AFP) – The South African government has called in the US ambassador to “explain his undiplomatic conduct” for the third time since he arrived nine months ago, a foreign ministry official said Wednesday. Conservative envoy Brent Bozell took up his post in February with bilateral ties fractured over a range of issues, from South Africa’s genocide case against US ally Israel to President Donald Trump’s disputed claims that white Afrikaners are being persecuted.
Bozell was summoned to the foreign ministry on Tuesday after a series of interviews with the South African media that appeared critical of the government. “He was called in to explain his undiplomatic conduct,” a senior foreign ministry official told AFP, without saying what prompted the reprimand. “It was the third demarche since he started his duties nine months ago. This is a record,” the official said.
The two countries have clashed over a range of policies, including South African efforts to redress stark inequalities that black people still face 30 years after the end of white-minority rule. These policies include laws on black empowerment in business and the use and ownership of land, which largely remains in white hands.
Washington on September 16 announced restrictions on visas for South Africans who promote “race-based discrimination, incite violence, or enable land confiscation without compensation in South Africa” — all issues that are disputed between the two countries. Bilateral ties nosedived after Trump took office, with the US leader cutting aid, expelling the South African ambassador, and berating President Cyril Ramaphosa in the Oval Office over discredited claims of a “white genocide.”
The United States last year launched a special programme to take in thousands of white Afrikaners who claim to be victims of persecution in South Africa. Differences between the two nations are “a subject of ongoing discussions,” the foreign ministry official said. “There is commitment from both sides to resolve the outstanding matters.” Bozell was first summoned by the government in March, just three weeks after taking up his post.
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