{"id":2000105160,"date":"2026-03-12T10:12:00","date_gmt":"2026-03-12T08:12:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/?p=2000105160"},"modified":"2026-03-12T10:01:20","modified_gmt":"2026-03-12T08:01:20","slug":"south-africa-summons-u-s-ambassador-over-controversial-remarks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/south-africa-summons-u-s-ambassador-over-controversial-remarks\/","title":{"rendered":"South Africa summons U.S. ambassador over controversial remarks"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Minister of International Relations and Cooperation Ronald Lamola confirmed during a media briefing that Bozell was called in to explain “undiplomatic remarks” that disregarded established protocols and judicial sovereignty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lamola emphasized that while South Africa welcomes active public diplomacy, foreign envoys must respect international etiquette and the country’s sovereignty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speaking at a meeting in South Africa’s Western Cape Province on Tuesday, Bozell accused the South African government, led by the ruling African National Congress, of practicing “racial discrimination” against white people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He also criticized South Africa’s participation in the BRICS mechanism, its case against Israel at the International Court of Justice and its friendly ties with Iran.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bozell’s remarks drew widespread criticism in South Africa. The influential black nationalist left-wing Economic Freedom Fighters party called on the government to declare Bozell persona non grata and expel him from the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since U.S. President Donald Trump returned to the office in January 2025, relations between the United States and South Africa have remained strained across political, economic and diplomatic fronts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In March 2025, Trump nominated conservative activist Bozell, a long-time critic of South Africa’s ruling African National Congress, as U.S. ambassador to South Africa. Bozell arrived in the country in February this year to take up the post.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Bozell accused the South African government, led by the ruling African National Congress, of practicing “racial discrimination” against white people.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

South Africa’s Department of International Relations and Cooperation formally summoned U.S. Ambassador Leo Brent Bozell III on Wednesday, following a series of inflammatory remarks that have significantly strained bilateral relations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":2000105163,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48],"tags":[101],"byline":[235],"hashtag":[],"class_list":["post-2000105160","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics-48","tag-internationl","byline-xinhua"],"bylines":[{"id":235,"name":"Xinhua","slug":"xinhua","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":80}],"contributors":[{"id":235,"name":"Xinhua","slug":"xinhua","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":80}],"featured_image":{"id":2000105163,"url":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/ing.jpg","alt":"","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","width":1200,"height":640,"sizes":{"thumbnail":{"url":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/ing.jpg","width":150,"height":80},"medium":{"url":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/ing.jpg","width":300,"height":160},"medium_large":{"url":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/ing.jpg","width":768,"height":410},"large":{"url":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/ing.jpg","width":1024,"height":546},"full":{"url":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/ing.jpg","width":1200,"height":640}}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2000105160","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2000105160"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2000105160\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2000105164,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2000105160\/revisions\/2000105164"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2000105163"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2000105160"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2000105160"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2000105160"},{"taxonomy":"byline","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/byline?post=2000105160"},{"taxonomy":"hashtag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtag?post=2000105160"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}