Trump nominates next US ambassador to South Africa

US President Donald Trump has nominated Leo Brent Bozell III to be the country’s ambassador to South Africa.

The nomination for the conservative activist and writer was published on 25 March 2025 on the US Congress’ website, and awaits confirmation by the Senate.

He is set to replace Reuben Brigety, who resigned in January.

Bozell, from Virginia, holds a BA in history from the University of Dallas and has long been active in conservative politics.

He is a staunch media critic, and founded the Media Research Center, an agency that critiques perceived liberal media bias, which led to projects like CNSNews.com.

He has strong ties to the conservative movement, being the son of conservative activists and writers L. Brent Bozell Jr. and Patricia Buckley Bozell, and the nephew of William F. Buckley Jr.

Bozell was part of the now-defunct National Conservative Political Action Committee, working with its founder, Terry Dolan, to support conservative candidates.

He also led the National Conservative Foundation project at the Conservative Political Action Conference, and written numerous books, including “Unmasked: Big Media’s War on Trump.”

Strained ties between the countries

Bonzell’s nomination comes amid strained ties between the two nations.

The Trump administration recently expelled South Africa’s ambassador to the United States, Ebrahim Rasool, after remarks he made about Trump during a webinar.

In the webinar, Rasool accused Trump of leading a global white supremacist movement and breaking down established norms and practices when it comes to diplomacy.

The Trump administration responded, with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio stating that Rasool is “a race-baiting politician who hates America and (Trump).”

Earlier this month, the state department ordered an immediate pause on most US foreign assistance to South Africa, officially implementing an executive order by Trump.

The directive targets what the administration called “egregious actions” by South Africa, and ordered all state department entities to immediately suspend the billions of dollars in aid disbursements, with minimal exceptions.

The Trump administration has long been critical of South Africa on several fronts.

One such issue includes its case the country brought before the International Court of Justice accusing Israel, a top American ally, of committing genocide against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

The nominated ambassador has long been a very vocal supporter of Israel.

The US administration has also criticised South Africa’s ties with US foes like Russia, China and Iran.

Additionally, the White House claimed in an official statement that there are “countless government policies designed to dismantle equal opportunity in employment, education, and business, and hateful rhetoric and government actions fueling disproportionate violence against racially disfavored landowners.”

President Cyril Ramaphosa recently responded to the various developments, saying that he had “taken note of an Executive Order and recent statements by the current US administration about South Africa and aspects of our domestic and foreign policy.”

“We have expressed concern about the mischaracterisation of the situation in our country and certain of our laws and our foreign policy positions.”

“We will continue to engage with the US and other stakeholders to correct this mischaracterisation and to restore the ties between our two countries,” he added.