South African government summons US ambassador after criticism

South Africa summoned the U.S. ambassador to Pretoria over his recent criticism of the country, ratcheting up tensions between the two countries.

The Department of International Relations and Cooperation conveyed the diplomatic protest to Leo Brent Bozell on Wednesday, according to people familiar with the matter who asked not to be identified as the information isn’t public. U.S. Embassy spokesman Rubani Trimiew didn’t answer calls or respond to request for comment sent by text message. A spokesman for the Department of International Relations and Cooperation wasn’t available for comment.

Relations between South Africa and the U.S. have deteriorated sharply since Trump began his second term last year, with the American president falsely accusing South Africa of subjecting White farmers to a genocide and seizing their land, and criticizing its relations with Iran and Hamas.

Bozell, 70, was a controversial choice for ambassador, having opposed efforts by the African National Congress — the biggest political party in the coalition government led by President Cyril Ramaphosa — to overturn apartheid in the 1980s.

The ambassador-designate warned on Tuesday that Trump is running out of patience with Pretoria over its failure to address Washington’s demands for changes to its domestic and foreign policies, Johannesburg-based news website Timeslive reported.

He also criticized a Constitutional Court ruling last year that found the anti-apartheid Kill the Boer chant isn’t hate speech, and was quoted as saying: “I’m sorry, I don’t care what your courts say. It’s hate speech.”

Bozell on Wednesday issued a brief statement on X clarifying that while it’s his personal view that the chant is hate speech, “the U.S. government respects the independence and findings of South Africa’s judiciary.”

Fikile Mbalula, the secretary-general of the ANC, responded to Bozell’s comments on X, saying “South Africa’s international relations policy will not be dictated to by anyone else but South Africans and their government.”

It’s the second time South Africa has summoned a U.S. envoy. Three years ago, the authorities summoned Bozell’s predecessor, Reuben Brigety, after he publicly accused Pretoria of supplying weapons to Russia.

The U.S. is South Africa’s second-biggest trade partner, after China.