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South Africa\u2019s government has summoned the United States ambassador to the country to discuss his \u201cundiplomatic remarks\u201d, a sign of the deepening rift between Pretoria and Washington.<\/p>\n
Foreign Minister Ronald Lamola announced that Ambassador Leo Brent Bozell III had been summoned Wednesday, following a series of comments from the envoy, who took his post last month.<\/p>\n list of 3 items<\/span>end of list<\/span><\/section>\n \u201cWe have called in the ambassador of the United States, Ambassador Bozell, to explain his undiplomatic remarks,\u201d Lamola said.<\/p>\n The summons comes as the administration of US President Donald Trump continues to heap pressure on South African President Cyril Ramaphosa and his government, based on claims that white Afrikaners face persecution in the country.<\/p>\n Last year, the Trump administration imposed a blanket 30 percent tariffs on South Africa, though a court decision recently rendered that rate defunct.<\/p>\n The US also\u00a0extended refugee status to white Afrikaners, based on claims they faced \u201cillegal or unjust discrimination\u201d, even as it halted resettlements of nearly every other refugee group.<\/p>\n South Africa\u2019s government leaders, including top Afrikaner officials, have acknowledged that crime remains high in the country, but they have rejected that notion that white Afrikaners are being specifically targeted. They have noted that Black residents face a higher crime rate.<\/p>\n The tensions came to a head last year when Trump confronted Ramaphosa during an Oval Office meeting in May, presenting images and videos he claimed were evidence of efforts to violently persecute white Afrikaners.<\/p>\n Several subsequent analyses found the images were misrepresented, in some cases depicting violence in other countries.<\/p>\n A conservative media advocate, Bozell has been a longtime ally of Trump. In late February, he took up his role as ambassador to South Africa.<\/p>\n But he recently came under fire for comments denouncing what he called \u201chate speech\u201d, as well as remarks critical of the country\u2019s post-apartheid policies.<\/p>\n Speaking to a meeting of business leaders on Tuesday, his first public appearance as ambassador, Bozell addressed an apartheid-era chant: \u201cKill the Boer, kill the farmer.\u201d<\/p>\n The chant has been disowned by many leaders of the anti-apartheid movement and remains controversial in South Africa. However, the country\u2019s courts have ruled that the chant does not constitute \u201chate speech\u201d and should be viewed in the context of the struggle against white-minority rule that ended in 1994.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m sorry, I don\u2019t care what your courts say. It\u2019s hate speech,\u201d Bozell said on Tuesday.<\/p>\nRecommended Stories <\/h2>\n
Claims of \u2018hate speech\u2019<\/h2>\n