Ebrahim Rasool deals with supporters and calls his non-persona Grata status a badge of dignity after his US expulsion.
The South African ambassador, who has been ousted from the United States in consecutive years with the administration of US President Donald Trump, arrived for a raucous welcome and threw a rebellious tone about the decision.
Crowds at Cape Town International Airport surrounded Ebrahim Lasol and his wife Rosieda on Sunday when they appeared at their home country’s arrival terminal. They needed police escorts to help them pass through the building.
“The declaration of Persona Non-Grata is intended to humiliate you,” Lasor told supporters as he spoke to them through a megaphone. “But when you return to such a crowd, with warmth… like this, I will wear my Persona non-grata as a badge of dignity.”
“Bringing home was not our choice, but we’ll go home without regrets.”
LaSaul also said it was important for South Africa to correct ties with the US after Trump punished the country, and accused him of taking an anti-American stance even before his decision to expel LaSaul.
Last month, Trump cut all funds to South Africa and issued an executive order claiming that the government is supporting Palestinian groups Hamas and Iran, and pursues anti-white policies at home.
South Africa filed a lawsuit with the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in December 2023. This accuss Israel of violating its obligations under the Genocide Treaty in its war with the Gaza Strip. Since then, more than 10 countries have joined South Africa in the genocide incident.
“We’re coming here and not saying we’re anti-American,” Lasor told the crowd. “We are not here to call you to abandon our interests with the United States.”
They were the first public comments of the former Ambassador since the Trump administration declared him Persona Non-Grata over a week ago, stripping his diplomatic immunity and privileges, and giving him to leave the country until Friday. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who issued the declaration in X, said LaSaul is a “racial politician” who hates the United States and Trump.
It is very rare for the US to expel foreign ambassadors.
Rubio’s post was linked to a story by a conservative Breitbart news site that reported on a talk given by Rasool at a webinar hosted by a South African think tank. In his speech, LaSaul spoke in the academic language of the Trump administration’s crackdown on diversity and equity programs and immigration, referring to the possibility that white people may not be in the majority any time soon.