With South Africa’s expelled US Ambassador Ebrahim Rasool expected to touch down in Cape Town on Sunday, President Cyril Ramaphosa has urged Rasool’s supporters, including those in the ANC, to exercise restraint, in a bid to not further inflame tensions with the US.
Rasool is due to land at the Cape Town International Airport sometime on Sunday afternoon, and the ANC’s Dullah Omar Region has encouraged Capetonians to come out to show “solidarity” with the former Ambassador.
Rasool was expelled from Washington after his comments in a webinar hosted by the Mapungubwe Institute for Strategic Reflection (Mistra) on Friday, March 14.
Rasool, in wide-ranging comments, shared his view that Donald Trump was mobilizing global white supremacy. This prompted an immediate response from the US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, accusing Rasool of being a race-baiting politician who hates the US and Trump.
He was then declared persona non grata.
ALSO READ: Ebrahim Rasool expelled as US Ambassador after Trump ‘supremacism’ comment
Presidency Spokesperson Vincent Magwenya, briefing the media on Thursday, said while Ramaphosa is not suggesting there shouldn’t be a homecoming rally, he will ask his party to exercise restraint.
Cosatu in the Western Cape has indicated they will gather in their numbers to welcome the expelled Ambassador home.
Magwenya says the President is guiding the process to iron out the current stalemate between the US and South Africa, and rational voices are now needed:
“Recognize where we are in terms of our relationship with the United States, support our efforts to resolve this current diplomatic stalemate, do not engage in any action or utterances, that will further inflame the situation.”
Meanwhile, Magwenya says Ramaphosa has not yet decided who will replace Rasool as US Ambassador, highlighting the need to reset the relationship with the United States.
He says talks between the US and South Africa will continue, despite the absence of an ambassador.
According to Magwenya, Rasool will also not immediately be afforded another role in party structures, reiterating that Ramaphosa will first request a full report from the former Ambassador about his time in the US before any decisions about his future deployment are made.
