Johannesburg — South Africa summoned the newly arrived U.S. ambassador after he criticized South Africa’s foreign policy and domestic laws, as relations between the two countries continue to fracture under President Donald Trump, the country’s top diplomat said Wednesday.
Foreign Minister Ronald Lamola said South Africa called in Ambassador Leo Brent Bozell III to explain what he called “undiplomatic remarks.” Lamola told reporters that while South Africa welcomed “active public diplomacy and the strengthening of bilateral ties,” the contacts needed to stay “consistent with established diplomatic etiquette and international protocols,” and he cited those standards in announcing the summons.
Bozell, a conservative activist appointed by Trump who began his role in Pretoria last month, was summoned after speaking at a Tuesday meeting of business leaders. In those remarks, he challenged the South African government’s diplomatic ties with Iran and its affirmative action laws, which he said were designed to advance opportunities for Black people ahead of other races.
According to the foreign ministry, Bozell’s criticism also extended to a land law that allows the South African government to expropriate land without compensation in some circumstances. Lamola’s announcement framed the action as a response to remarks that South Africa viewed as violating diplomatic protocol rather than as a dispute handled through official channels alone.
Bozell had also said South Africa should change some affirmative action laws, which he compared to race laws that oppressed Black people during apartheid. He additionally called for the United States’ stated concerns to be addressed, including rural crime being treated as a priority and a public condemnation of a South African chant that has been cited in the diplomatic conflict.
South Africa’s foreign ministry director-general Zane Dangor said Bozell met with South African officials and that the ambassador “apologized and expressed regret.” Dangor did not provide further detail on the content of the apology, and there was no immediate comment from the U.S. government.
The episode forms part of a broader rift that, the Associated Press reported, has widened since Trump returned to office. The AP said ties have reached their lowest point since the end of apartheid in 1994, with Trump repeatedly critical of South Africa’s Black-led government and, in particular, asserting allegations about violence targeting minority white farmers.
Bozell’s remarks at the business leaders meeting came amid heightened tensions around the chant “kill the Boer,” a line associated with a far-left opposition party and linked to the broader dispute over race and speech. Earlier Wednesday, Bozell backtracked on one comment tied to a South African court ruling that the chant was not hate speech, despite containing the phrase “kill the Boer.”
At the meeting Tuesday, Bozell said, “I am sorry, I don’t care what your courts say, it’s hate speech.” In an X post Wednesday, Bozell said his comment reflected his personal view and that “the U.S. government respects the independence and findings of South Africa’s judiciary,” as he revised his stance after the court decision.
The Trump administration has taken other steps against South Africa, including expelling South Africa’s ambassador to Washington last year and barring South Africa from meetings of the Group of 20 in the United States this year, the report said. Bozell told business leaders the U.S. had made five requests about a year earlier to improve ties: distance South Africa from Iran, change parts of its affirmative action laws affecting American companies, outlaw certain expropriations without compensation, declare rural crime a priority, and publicly condemn the “kill the Boer” chant.
Bozell said the U.S. was frustrated that it had not received any reply to its requests, and he said he had not come “to pick a fight,” according to the Associated Press report from Imray in Cape Town.
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