Donald Trump’s ambassador to South Africa, Leo Brent Bozell III, has arrived in Pretoria – perhaps now sipping the 10th cup of our rooibos and nibbling specially prepared koeksisters from Orania behind the embassy’s heavily fortified walls in Tshwane, while plotting his next move against President Cyril Ramaphosa.
Ramaphosa’s office at the Union Buildings is just a few streets from Bozell’s new workspace.
They could effortlessly meet on the lush lawns of State House whenever they wish under the shadow of the towering statue of Nelson Mandela while enjoying rooibos in the presidential blue-and-white porcelain jars.
If you thought the previous US ambassador, Reuben Brigety II, was a diplomatic disaster for South Africa with his tendency to overreach in our internal affairs (his allegations of Russian Lady R docking and terrorist bombing in Sandton), think again.
Even the recently expelled chargé d’affaires of Israel, Ariel Seidman’s unrestrained outbursts directed at our president, would be child’s play compared to what we can expect from Bozell.
Wait until Bozell completes his welcome diplomatic protocol. After that, brace yourself for the inevitable shouting match with Cyril or Ronald Lamola.
Bozell’s frustrations with Pretoria are clearly visible on his bearded face.
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From the looks of things, the new envoy won’t wait to reach his 20th cup of rooibos before he unleashes his first outburst and tells Ramaphosa how wrong he is about Israel.
American cable channel MS Now describes Bozell as a right-wing activist who once defended apartheid. His son joined the Trump-supporting mob that stormed the US Capitol on 6 January, 2021.
Labelling him an “apartheid-friendly ambassador”, the channel argues his mission is to advance Trump’s narrative of a supposed white genocide in South Africa.
“Now, Bozell is America’s envoy to the very nation whose black freedom fighters he sought to spurn more than three decades ago,” MS Now said, underscoring the irony of his posting to a democratic South Africa.
Bozell’s is no genteel diplomatic posting. He stated clearly, his central mission is to tell South Africa to cancel its genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which the envoy says is an “injustice”.
The demand is as audacious as it is consequential: if Pretoria retreats, the ICJ’s proceedings would falter and the path to accountability for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defence minister Yoav Gallant – both indicted at the International Criminal Court for their roles in the Gaza killings – would narrow, if not collapse entirely.
What Bozell seeks, in essence, is not dialogue but compliance. His mission is a test of whether Washington can bend SA’s sovereign legal stance to suit its geopolitical calculus.
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And the irony is stark: two offices separated by mere streets, yet divided by oceans of principle – Ramaphosa’s insistence on international law versus Bozell’s insistence on political expediency.
Ramaphosa’s dilemma is to accept a man who supported a racist white regime and to please Trump with his threats of heavy tariffs and possibly sanctioning certain ANC leaders individually.
Rejecting Bozell risks South Africa being kicked out of Agoa, where it had been readmitted recently.
Also, bowing to the US pressure on Israel and withdrawing the ICJ genocide case betrays the very solidarity with the Palestinian cause.
South Africa now faces a choice that will echo far beyond Pretoria’s streets.
To retreat under pressure would be to surrender its sovereign voice in defence of international law.
To stand firm is to remind the world justice cannot be dictated by proximity or power, but must be pursued wherever the evidence leads.
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