South Africa issues formal protest to Bozell over remarks

Key topics:South Africa protests US ambassador Bozell’s critical remarks.Tensions rise over Trump-era claims on land, empowerment, and Iran.Bozell later regrets comments, pledges constructive engagement..Sign up for your early morning brew of the BizNews Insider to keep you up to speed with the content that matters. The newsletter will land in your inbox every morning on weekdays. Register here.Support South Africa's bastion of independent journalism, offering balanced insights on investments, business, and the political economy, by joining BizNews Premium. Register here.If you prefer WhatsApp for updates, sign up to the BizNews channel here..By S'thembile Cele and Ana Monteiro.South Africa issued a diplomatic protest to the new US ambassador to Pretoria over his recent criticism of the government, ratcheting up tensions between the two countries.The Department of International Relations and Cooperation conveyed the démarche to Leo Brent Bozell on Wednesday, with Ronald Lamola, South Africa’s foreign minister, confirming the move. “We have called in the ambassador of the United States, Ambassador Bozell, to explain his undiplomatic remarks,” Lamola told a media briefing.Relations between South Africa and the US have deteriorated sharply since Donald Trump’s return to the White House last year. The American president has falsely accused Pretoria of subjecting White farmers to a genocide and seizing their land, denounced its relations with Iran and Hamas, and rejected its Black economic-empowerment policies. Bozell has doubled down on the criticism..Read more:.US claims SA’s ambassador made ‘unacceptable’ remarks.“We reiterate that broad-based Black economic empowerment is not reverse racism, as regrettably insinuated by the ambassador. It is a fundamental instrument designed to address the structural imbalances of South Africa’s unique history,” Lamola said. “As we cannot tell President Trump how to deal with localization in the US, he also can’t tell us how to deal with our domestic issues of sovereignty.”Zane Dangor, the director-general of South Africa’s international relations department, said Bozell later expressed regret over his public comments and reaffirmed his commitment to a constructive engagement. US Embassy spokesman Rubani Trimiew didn’t answer calls or respond to request for comment sent by text message.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 US government respects the independence and findings of South Africa’s judiciary.”ANC Secretary-General Fikile Mbalula 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.”.Read more:.Worldview: Trump nominates conservative media critic as US ambassador to South Africa.It’s the second time South Africa has demarched a US envoy. Three years ago, the authorities summoned Bozell’s predecessor, Reuben Brigety, after he publicly accused Pretoria of supplying weapons to Russia.The US is South Africa’s biggest trade partner after China..© 2026 Bloomberg L.P.

South Africa issues formal protest to Bozell over remarks

Related Stories

WSM: Ramaphosa bet on Trump's short attention span. He lost.

SLR: Lamola's Washington strategy could push South Africa further out in the cold

Bozell: Washington's asks of SA now off the table

Boardroom Talk: US announces visa restrictions on SA citizens relating to racism concerns