By Abiola Olawale
A former President of South Africa, Thabo Mbeki has publicly criticized Ambassador Ebrahim Rasool, the recently expelled(persona non grata) South African Ambassador to the United States, for his inappropriate comments about US President Donald Trump.
Speaking at the University of South Africa (UNISA), recently Mbeki stated that Rasool’s remarks breached diplomatic protocols and ethics, adding that it further strained what he described as “an already fragile” relationship between Pretoria and Washington.
The former South African President emphasized that diplomats are bound by strict conventions that prohibit them from making inappropriate, unrefined, unacceptable remarks about their host countries.
Mbeki also underscored the importance of diplomats adhering to the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, asserting that Rasool’s comments about Trump crossed a critical line in diplomatic practice.
He pointed to the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, which helps to govern the conduct of diplomats, stressing that Ambassadors must respect the laws and norms of their host countries and refrain from interfering in their internal affairs.
Mbeki, while addressing students and reporters, said: “Ebrahim Rasool is an old friend of mine and a comrade, but in this particular instance, he made a mistake. He said things about his host president, which he should not have said.”
The New Diplomat reports that Ambassador Rasool’s expulsion ( his declaration as a persona non grata by Trump’s administration)followed his remarks during a webinar hosted by the Mapungubwe Institute for Strategic Studies, where he described Trump’s “Make America Great Again” movement as a “supremacist instinct.”
Following this development, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio declared Rasool a persona non grata, accusing him of being a “race-baiting politician who hates America.”
While weighing in on the situation, Mbeki emphasized the importance of maintaining diplomatic tact, saying: “As an Ambassador, you are allowed a policy position, you are allowed to take a policy position on behalf of your country, but you can’t go around expressing negative opinions about your host. There is nothing like I am speaking in my personal capacity. No! It doesn’t exist as am Ambassador. The matter of ensuring good relations is critically important. An Ambassador is a very, very important post. An Ambassador is the representative of a Head of State to another Head of State… They are so important that some carry the title, like Ambassador Ebrahim Rasool, the title of extraordinary and Plenipotentiary. Which means, they can commit a whole country to a policy decision in order to maintain good relations with their host countries…And part of the process for the appointment of an Ambassador, I mean an Ambassador that gets posted to a host country…is tedious. If South African President wants to send an Ambassador to Zimbabwe, for instance, the president of South Africa writes to his counterpart in Zimbabwe to say, I propose to send…as our Ambassador in Harare. Do you agree? It’s a still request. Upon receipt of the request, the government of Zimbabwe then asks its Embassy in Pretoria, who is this nominee…? If the Zimbabwean Embassy reports back that this person is a thief…, the consequence is that such a request or nomination to Zimbabwe then gets rejected. Because the President of Zimbabwe cannot allow a thief to sit and discuss very important, serious matters of state between the two countries. So it’s a very, very important post…”
“Ambassador Rasool said things about his host president that he should not have said. When I saw this and saw this persona non grata, I wasn’t surprised because it means, practically, you make an assessment of your host president, which is negative, and then you want to sit with that president tomorrow. They won’t agree.”
