South Africa summoned Washington’s new ambassador after he publicly dismissed a court ruling that the anti-apartheid chant “Kill the Boer” does not constitute hate speech.
Leo Brent Bozell’s comments, later walked back with an apology, were read in Pretoria as “undiplomatic,” prompting a formal dressing down. The demarche, as it is referred to in diplomatic parlance, is a level below expulsion, signaling that South Africa regards his intervention as an affront to judicial independence.
The rebuke comes less than a month after Bozell formally began his posting and adds to tension between the US and Pretoria. Relations are already strained following South Africa’s genocide case against Israel over its military operations in Gaza, Washington’s call for affirmative action laws to be rolled back, and the fallout from US President Donald Trump’s repeated false claims of a “white genocide” in South Africa.
Meanwhile, South Africa plans to install a senior diplomat to lead its Washington affairs in an acting capacity. Its last ambassador, Ebrahim Rasool, was expelled last year after public comments in which he accused Trump of being a white supremacist.