Quotes
I think, at the very least, what we should expect, is a standard of some respect, basic, low-level respect, if you’re in a position that is going to help facilitate any kind of diplomatic relationship with another country,
State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce said Monday
Knives were already out for Rasool before he even arrived in Washington... [and] by the time he arrived it was a mere formality to find a reason to be able to get rid of him,
Dr Van Heerden said
The fact that he [is] a Muslim, the fact that he represented our country's views on Palestine... Those are all the real reasons why he's been he's been targeted,
Jacobs told the BBC.jpg)
So this is actually a hiccup... that we are working on straightening out,
Ramaphosa told reporters on Monday repeating a stance aimed at cooling temperaturesI really had no idea where I was going until after I tasted my first tear gas, saw my first rubber bullet and fled my first whop from the police when I entered high school in 1976,
Georgetown University quoted him as saying for a profile piece in 2015.We will engage with the United States of America in a formal way,
Ramaphosa said
But this is the reality that we also have to contend with with this administration. That it does seem as though Twitter (X) is the preferred mode of communication,
the spokesman said in an interview on the South Africa Broadcasting CorporationWe’ve had a decent level of diplomacy with South Africa. There are some challenges, but you want people in each embassy who can actually facilitate a relationship,
she told reporters on MondayImproving our relationship with the USA is a priority for us they are our second largest trading partner after China and we will therefore seek, as we must, to ensure that our relations are on a good footing,
Ramaphosa said
This is a hiccup - a hiccup that we are working on straightening out. We cannot be blue ticked (ignored by the US) because we're such an important player to the United States of America; as they are an important player to South Africa from a political point of view; from a trade point of view and from a whole number of other important points of view,
Ramaphosa said as he shared that the US had sent a diplomatic note verbale about the Rasool issueAs a former Ambassador to the US and a former Premier of the Western Cape Province, he should have known better as a diplomat and politician,
one colleague said
South Africa’s ambassador to the United States is no longer welcome in our great country,
Rubio addedWe have noted the displeasure that has been expressed by the United States, particularly about the remarks he made,
Ramaphosa said
Rasool's appointment was opposed by all of the other political parties in the GNU, and was the first large point of contention between the parties,
Wiliam Gumede, a professor of public management at Witwatersrand University in Johannesburg, explained to CBS NewsHe is perceived to be pro-Iran and Hamas, as well as strongly anti-Israel, which is largely why it was felt he was the wrong choice for the ambassador post,
Gumede told CBS NewsEventually, the non-ANC partners caved in,
Gumede said, which led to Rasool getting the jobI fear the next step steps could be targeted economic sanctions against South Africa, which would mean we are in danger of losing 300,000 to 400,000 direct jobs in the country, as well as hundreds of thousands more jobs through indirect channels,
he saidIt plays into the fears of White people in America and elsewhere: ‘We Whites are threatened,
Max du Preez, a White South African writer and historian, told the New York Times of Trump’s attacks on his country
But, ... we fit into that because we are the historical antidote to supremacism.”
Rasool addedWe should note that Marco Rubio himself said far worse things about Donald Trump in the past than anything said by Ambassador Rasool,
Gaspard posted on social media