United States President Donald Trump has officially appointed Brent Bozell as the new ambassador to South Africa.
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Trump took to his Truth social media platform on Thursday to announce the appointment, following Bozell’s nomination earlier in the week, as reported by The South African website.
‘Fearless tenacity’
“I am pleased to announce that Brent Bozell will be our next United States Ambassador to South Africa,” Trump wrote.
“Brent is the Funder of thee Media Research Center, which has exposed Fake News hypocrites for many years.
“Brent brings fearless tenacity, extraordinary experience, and vast knowledge to a Nation that desperately needs it. Congratulations Brent!”
Bozell will replace Reuben Brigety, who resigned on 10 January this year.
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Bozell, from Virginia, holds a BA in history from the University of Dallas and has long been active in conservative politics.
He is a staunch media critic and founded the Media Research Center, an agency that critiques perceived liberal media bias, which led to projects like CNSNews.com.
He has strong ties to the conservative movement, being the son of conservative activists and writers L. Brent Bozell Jr. and Patricia Buckley Bozell, and the nephew of William F. Buckley Jr.
He was part of the now-defunct National Conservative Political Action Committee, and also led the National Conservative Foundation project at the Conservative Political Action Conference.
Strained relations
Bozell’s appointment comes amid severely strained relations between the United States and South Africa.
According to Bloomberg, Trump has been critical of South Africa on several fronts, including for a case it brought before the International Court of Justice accusing Israel, a top American ally, of committing genocide against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
More recently, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio expelled SA ambassador to the US, Ebrahim Rasool, after the latter described Trump’s Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement as a supremacist reaction to diversity in the United States.
Rasool was given days to leave America and was greeted with cheers and applause from hundreds of placard-waving supporters mostly clad in the green and yellow of the ruling African National Congress party upon landing at Cape Town International Airport on Sunday.
Rasool addressed the crowd and his tone and words did nothing to help mend relations between South Africa and the United States.
Meanwhile, President Cyril Ramaphosa’s spokesperson Vincent Magwenya said that the president will carefully consider the new ambassadorial appointment, aiming to resolve the diplomatic stalemate without rushing the process.
Who would you like to see replace Ebrahim Rasool as SA ambassador to the US?
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