South Africa accredits new US envoy amid tensions with Trump

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa accepted new US Ambassador Leo Brent Bozell’s credentials, a month after the diplomat was issued a formal reprimand for criticising the government and questioning a domestic court ruling.

Bozell and envoys from 19 other nations, including Cuba, Lebanon, Zimbabwe, and Ukraine, were formally accredited at a ceremony in Pretoria, the capital, on Wednesday, enabling them to fully assume their duties.

“We are two nations with great shared values and interests,” Bozell said. “It’s my goal in my time here to build on those shared interests, to build on self-respect, to build on our shared values, to take our two nations to places they have never been before.”

Relations between the US and South Africa have deteriorated sharply since Donald Trump returned to the White House last year. The US president has repeatedly accused Ramaphosa’s administration of subjecting White farmers to genocide and seizing their land, claims that have been widely discredited.

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Trump has also offered refugee status to members of the Afrikaner minority, imposed the highest tariffs in sub-Saharan Africa on South African imports, and ordered US officials to boycott the Group of 20 meetings hosted by Pretoria last year. He has further criticized South Africa’s ties with Iran and rejected its Black economic empowerment policies.

Bozell, 70, was issued a démarche last month after he doubled down on the criticism and warned that Trump is running out of patience with South Africa over its failure to address US demands for changes to its domestic and foreign policies.

He also criticised a Constitutional Court ruling that found the anti-apartheid Kill the Boer chant isn’t hate speech.

“I’m sorry, I don’t care what your courts say. It’s hate speech,” he was quoted as saying.

Bozell subsequently downplayed the differences between the two countries, emphasising their strong economic ties.

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“We will not see every issue in the same way; that is the nature of relations between independent nations,” he wrote in a column published in Johannesburg’s Business Day newspaper. “At times, our positions will diverge on global or bilateral questions. Yet in my conversations with South African leaders across the country, it is clear that even where differences exist, we can still identify areas to work together, build trust, and expand opportunities for the US and South Africa.”

Bozell was a controversial choice for ambassador, having opposed efforts by the African National Congress — the biggest political party in Ramaphosa’s coalition government — to overturn White-minority rule in the 1980s.

He replaces Reuben Brigety, who was appointed during Joe Biden’s presidency and resigned after Trump’s election victory in late 2024.

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