Ramaphosa expected to accept Trump's new US ambassador

PRESIDENT Cyril Ramaphosa is expected to accept the credentials of Brent Bozell, a right-wing media critic and fervent defender of Israel appointed to be US’s ambassador to South Africa.

A US state department official told AFP Bozell "looks forward to taking up his post and representing America First foreign policy". An official accreditation ceremony with Ramaphosa would take place in April.

The development comes as the two countries have been at odds over a series of international and domestic policies, including South Africa's genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice, and the US in March expelled ambassador Ebrahim Rasool for being critical of Trump’s leadership.

The US is South Africa's second-biggest trading partner by country after China.

As bilateral relations floundered, Washington in August imposed 30-percent tariffs on South African exports to the US, raising fears of major jobs losses in the local agriculture, automobile and textile sectors.

A low point in the deteriorating relationship was the Trump administration's boycott of the G20 summit in Johannesburg in November, after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said South Africa's presidency of the forum had an "anti-American" agenda.

US officials said South Africa would not be invited to the US hosting of the group of leading economies this year.

Trump chose Bozell for the job, saying he would bring "fearless tenacity, extraordinary experience, and vast knowledge to a nation that desperately needs it".

The New York Times reported that Bozell's son was one of almost 1,600 people convicted and sentenced for their role in the January 6, 2021 assault on the US Capitol by Trump supporters, and who was pardoned by the president when he took office this year.

Bozell said at his Senate confirmation hearing in October that he would push Pretoria to end its genocide case against Israel and would "communicate our objections to South Africa's geostrategic drift", citing its relations with Russia, China, and Iran, with whom Pretoria conducted naval exercises in January.

He also told Senators he would promote Trump's offer of refugee status to the white Afrikaner minority, repeating unfounded claims by the US administration that white South Africans are victims of discrimination and even "genocide" under the post-apartheid government.

South Africa is the US's  largest trading partner on the continent with more than 500 US businesses and 30,000 US citizens based in the country.

AFP