Expelled South African ambassador to US returns home with 'no regrets'

CAPE TOWN - Expelled South African ambassador to the United States Ebrahim Rasool said on Sunday that he returned home with "no regrets".

Rasool and his wife, Rosieda, after a 32-hour journey from the United States via Qatar, arrived at Cape Town International Airport on Sunday morning to a warm welcome from hundreds of supporters.

Earlier this month, Rasool was declared "persona non grata" by the United States, following earlier remarks he had made during a webinar hosted by the Mapungubwe Institute for Strategic Reflection, a South African think tank, in which he criticized US President Donald Trump.

Addressing around 300 supporters at the airport, Rasool stated that while being labeled a persona non grata was meant to humiliate him, the warm reception turned it into a badge of honor.

"When you return to a crowd like this and with warmth and the sense of Ubuntu (an African traditional philosophy of 'I am because we are') like this, then I will wear my persona non grata as a badge of dignity... as a badge that we have done the right thing," Rasool said, expressing his delight at having returned to where "Ubuntu is valued".

Rasool said that despite attempts at conventional diplomacy, South Africa ultimately had to resort to what he called the "diplomacy of Ubuntu".

"The diplomacy of Ubuntu is not the art of lying for your country. It is the art of speaking the truth but gently. The diplomacy of Ubuntu is not flattering your host, and the diplomacy of Ubuntu is not denying what is wrong. The diplomacy of Ubuntu is intellectual engagement, and it is persuasion of your host about a better way," he said.

Rasool hoped that President Cyril Ramaphosa would find someone capable of mending the relationship with the United States without sacrificing South Africa's values. "We must fight for it, but we must keep our dignity," he said.

When questioned on whether diplomacy had failed, he said the fact that his remarks had caught the attention of Trump and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, prompting them to declare him persona non grata, demonstrated that his message had reached the highest level of the US government.

"They were stunned by our characterization and they were not happy, and so the diplomacy of Ubuntu has certainly worked because we bore witness to the values of our society," Rasool said.

Rasool's expulsion was announced on social media by Rubio, who described him as a "race-baiting politician who hates America and its president". Rasool was given 72 hours to leave the United States and was deemed "unacceptable" for future accreditation as a representative of South Africa in Washington.

Rasool is expected to provide a detailed report on the matter to Ramaphosa, who reiterated last Monday that South Africa is committed to engaging with Washington, describing the expulsion as a minor setback in bilateral relations.