US President Donald Trump has nominated a conservative activist and father to one of an estimated 1,600 people charged with storming the US Capitol on January 6 2021 as the new US ambassador to South Africa.
Leo Brent Bozell III now heads the US Agency for Global Media (USAGM), which owns the government-backed media house Voice of America. In March, Trump moved to defund the USAGM, which oversees key news agencies, paving the way for Bozell to be nominated as the US's top diplomat to South Africa.
His nomination comes as tension between the countries escalate, with members of the Trump administration and right-wing lobby groups in South Africa fanning the flames of misinformation, which has led to Washington halting funding to South Africa.
Trump has also been critical of South Africa’s move to haul Israel, a key US ally in the Middle East, before the International Criminal Court (ICJ), accusing it of genocide in Gaza.
Though seeking remedies to the deterioration of relations between the two countries, South African authorities have emphasised that the country will not change its domestic or foreign policies to suit the new US administration. South Africa is, however, seeking to reset its relations with the US, which has pushed for transactional trade deals and a clampdown on immigration.
Bozell’s nomination, which was published on the US state website on Tuesday, has been referred to the US Senate committee on foreign relations for consideration.
The committee is chaired by Jim Risch, who has previously pushed for South Africa to be kicked out of the programme that allows sub-Saharan countries to have access to US markets through the African Growth & Opportunity Act (Agoa). In his 2023 submission to the committee, Risch cited South Africa’s perceived closeness to US adversary Russia as a reason for the Agoa forum to be moved away from Johannesburg.
Though Risch failed and the 2023 Agoa forum went ahead in South Africa, the Trump administration’s antagonistic stance towards the country has renewed fears among organised business and leaders in government that South Africa will be expelled from the programme by September, the month for its next renewal.
Should Bozell be appointed as the next US ambassador, he would replace Democrat Reuben Brigety, who resigned in December ahead of Trump’s inauguration.
Having been in the position since August 2022, his tenure was marred by tension between South Africa and the US, during which he publicly accused South Africa of supplying arms to Russia. He said he would bet his life that South Africa loaded weapons to Russia on board the Lady R after offloading armaments ordered by the South African National Defence Force.
While the Russian origins of the vessel and Brigety’s allegations about the cargo were the main points of contention all along, an independent panel chaired by retired Supreme Court of Appeal judge Phineas Mojapelo found that the only consignment delivered was from the United Arab Emirates and not Russia.
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