S. AFRICAN ENVOY EXPELLED BY TRUMP HAS NO REGRETS

'I have no regrets!' - that was the message of South Africa’s expelled ambassador to the US, addressing supporters who’d come to greet him at Cape Town airport.

Ebrahim Rasool took his expulsion by the Trump administration as a 'badge of dignity.' The boisterous crowd praised him for serving the country honourably.

The veteran diplomat crossed swords with the Trump administration after he criticised the administration's crackdown on equity and diversity programmes. Speaking during a webinar featuring academics and political activists, Rasool suggested that Trump had been mobilising the fear that White people could become a minority in the US to justify racist policies.

Rasool's expulsion puts additional strain on already fraught relations between Pretoria and Washington. In recent weeks, the African country has been a frequent target of Trump's tirades.

In February, Trump suspended aid to the country over discredited allegations that it is discriminating against White citizens. Trump's order came after South Africa's president signed a new law allowing the government to confiscate private land without compensation under certain circumstances. The law aims to redress the legacy of apartheid-era laws that prohibited Black South Africans from owning land.

In his address, Rasool also recalled how the American people had often stood with South Africans, even when Washington hadn’t - for example, by boycotting South African goods during the apartheid era when the US refused to apply sanctions.

Video credits: SABC News and Newzroom Afrika