SA slams US ambassador's ‘undip­lo­matic con­duct’

South African Inter­na­tional Rela­tions & Co-oper­a­tion Min­is­ter Ron­ald Lam­ola says US Ambas­sador Leo Brent Bozell III must ‘get out of the kit­chen’ if he no longer believes in dip­lo­matic engage­ments with Pre­toria. Deplor­ing Bozell’s ‘undip­lo­matic con­duct’ and inter­fer­ence in South Africa's (SA) domestic affairs, Lam­ola last week defen­ded gov­ern­ment’s decision to démarche Bozell for the third time since his arrival in Feb­ru­ary des­pite fears of put­ting fur­ther strain on rela­tions between SA and US Pres­id­ent Don­ald Trump’s admin­is­tra­tion. The Sunday Times reports that the Min­is­ter said he was ‘taken aback’ by Bozell’s remark that the ‘time for talk­ing was over’. ‘As a dip­lo­mat you can­not inter­fere in the domestic polit­ics of your host. It’s rule num­ber one of dip­lomacy. And he clearly with his pos­ture, pub­lic engage­ments, clearly he’s enga­ging in our domestic polit­ics.’ SA is cap­able of run­ning its own domestic affairs. At this stage, we have démarched him, we have frowned upon his con­duct and we urge him to desist from this undip­lo­matic con­duct.’

Full Sunday Times report