South Africa Summons U.S. Ambassador Again As Tensions Rise

(South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa. Photo by Vanguard News)

South Africa has called in the U.S. ambassador, Brent Bozell, to explain what it calls his rude and undiplomatic behaviour.

A foreign ministry official told an online report, on Wednesday that this is the third time he has been summoned since he started nine months ago, and called it a record.

Bozell took up his post in February when relations between the two countries were already shaky.

Some of the issues are South Africa's genocide case against Israel, a close U.S. ally, and Donald Trump's disputed claims that white Afrikaners are being persecuted.

Bozell was called in on Tuesday, the same day he published an article accusing the South African government of hostility, and after several critical interviews with local media.

The official did not say what exactly led to the summons.

He was first called in back in March, only three weeks into the job, over comments on the same issues.

The two countries also disagree over South Africa's efforts to fix the inequality black people still face 30 years after white minority rule ended.

This includes laws on black empowerment in business and on land, most of which is still owned by white people.

In mid-September, the US announced visa limits for South Africans who promote race based discrimination, incite violence or support land seizure without pay.

Ties worsened after Trump returned to office.

He cut aid, expelled the South African ambassador and scolded President Cyril Ramaphosa in the Oval Office over discredited claims of a white genocide.

The US also started a programme last year to take in thousands of white Afrikaners who say they face attacks and rural crime.

The foreign ministry official said talks are still going on and both sides want to settle the differences.

In his article on the US embassy website, Bozell said endless talks that lead nowhere are useless and that Washington has run out of patience.

He said Pretoria has not answered some U.S. demands properly.

These include asking Ramaphosa to condemn the anti apartheid chant Kill the Boer, which critics say calls for violence, making rural crime a priority, and widening alternatives to black equity laws in the telecoms and mining sectors.

The chant is rarely used and only by a small radical left wing group.

South African courts have ruled it is not hate speech and must be seen in the light of the fight against white minority rule.

South Africa has said it will not give in to U.S. interference in how it runs its own affairs.

Bozell said the South African government does not want a good relationship with the United States and hopes it will rethink its hostility.