U.S. Ambassador to South Africa Leo Brent Bozell III has been summoned by South African officials for the third time in nine months, following an outspoken op-ed in which he publicly detailed the Trump administration’s demands on Pretoria.
South Africa’s Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO) confirmed that Bozell was demarched over what officials described as “undiplomatic conduct.” A demarche is a formal diplomatic protest in which one government summons a representative of another government to object to their conduct.
The latest confrontation follows Bozell’s September 28th op-ed, in which he said the United States had run out of patience with South Africa after what he described as nine months without a meaningful response to Washington’s “Five Asks.”
According to Bozell, the five requests made by the U.S. government were:
- Do not interfere with U.S. processing of Afrikaner refugees under President Trump’s executive order.
- Do not allow uncompensated land seizures, including concerns surrounding South Africa’s 2024 Expropriation Act.
- Condemn the “Kill the Farmer! Kill the Boer!” chant, particularly by President Cyril Ramaphosa and senior government officials.
- Designate rural crime as a priority crime and implement and fully resource a plan to address violence affecting rural communities.
- Create alternatives to Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (BBBEE) ownership requirements, including allowing Equity Equivalent Investment Programmes in the telecommunications and mining sectors.
Bozell said the first two demands had been addressed or were being handled through the courts, while Washington considered the remaining three unresolved.
The diplomatic dispute has intensified since the United States announced targeted visa restrictions against certain South Africans on September 15th.
South Africa has maintained that its domestic policies are matters of national sovereignty and that discussions between the two governments remain ongoing.
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