South Africa says it has asked US ambassador to explain ‘undiplomatic remarks’

JOHANNESBURG, March 11 (Reuters) – South Africa has summoned the U.S. ambassador to the country Leo Brent Bozell III to explain recent “undiplomatic remarks”, Foreign Affairs Minister Ronald Lamola said on Wednesday.

On Tuesday, Bozell caused a public backlash by criticising “Kill the Boer”, a South African liberation chant that a court had previously ruled was not hate speech.

At a conference on Tuesday, Bozell said: “I’m sorry, I don’t care what your courts say. It’s hate speech.” Later, in a post on social media platform X, he said that the U.S. government respected the independence and findings of South Africa’s judiciary.

Lamola said in a briefing on Wednesday: “While South Africa welcomes active public diplomacy and the strengthening of bilateral ties, we emphasize that such engagements must remain consistent with established diplomatic etiquette and international protocols.”

Bozell arrived in Pretoria as U.S. President Donald Trump’s envoy last month. He has said he intended to communicate Washington’s displeasure with what he called South Africa’s “geostrategic drift… toward our competitors”, including Iran.

(Reporting by Anathi Madubela andSfundo Parakozov; Editing by Aidan Lewis)