South Africa appointed a career diplomat as the acting head of its Washington embassy, as it stalls on naming a new official ambassador.
Thabo Thage’s appointment as the de facto head of mission allows him to negotiate and sign agreements at a time of heightened diplomatic tension between the countries. The move reflects Pretoria’s caution over making a full ambassador appointment. Thage has previously served in several senior diplomatic posts, including as South Africa’s ambassador to Bulgaria and Chile.
Pretoria’s previous ambassador, Ebrahim Rasool, was expelled last year after he accused US President Donald Trump of being a white supremacist. An attempt to fill the gap failed after the US rejected MTN chairman Mcebisi Jonas’ credentials to serve as special envoy. Relations are badly strained after several spats, including South Africa’s genocide case against US ally Israel over its military operations in Gaza, Washington’s call for South Africa’s Black empowerment laws to be rolled back, and Trump’s repeated false claims of a “white genocide” in South Africa.