USA and the Republic of South Africa: the largest economy in the world and the largest economy of the Black Continent the only African country—a member of the G20), are testing the relations of the countries on the shores of the Atlantic in an unpredictable way these days.
It is hard to imagine what future direction the relations between Washington and Pretoria could take when Leo Brent Bozell, the newly appointed US ambassador to South Africa starts working in the country of the Cape of Good Hope.
Namely, in the middle of January, the official Washington and Pretoria brought, the already strained relations since last year, to a new “ice”, after the joint military and naval manoeuvres of several members of “BRICS plus”, and under the leadership of China, held in the territorial waters of the Republic of South Africa (January 10-16). Who all from the “BRICS plus” composition sent (only) officers—observers, and who sent warships to Simons Town (on the photo)—the leading military base of the South Africa , whose corvettes (and some other very advanced naval vessels) then remained anchored there until January 16, and whose sailed to the Atlantic for gunnery exercises… was carefully monitored in those days, all over the world https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20260108-chinese-iranian-warships-in-south-africa-for-exercises
A big mystery even today is how exactly it happened that three warships of Iran found themselves in Simons Town those days?
More precisely, what did Cyril Ramaphosa, the President of the Republic of South Africa, thought about the arrival of Iranian warships and what did he do about it? Vincent Magwenya, President Rampoza’s spokesman insists that the South African leader demanded (without specifying, from whom?) that Iran’s participation in naval drills be cancelled (China seems to have sent invitations), in order to protect “our national interests”. Meanwhile, the US embassy in Pretoria lashed out, accusing the government of Cyril Ramaphosa—aka the leader of the African National Congress, South Africa’s leading party—of “choosing to support a regime that brutally represses its people and engages in terrorism.”
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/28/world/africa/south-africa-iran-navy-drills-trump.html
Be that as it may, Iranian warships were sighted in the military harbour at Simons Town in those days. After a great storm arose, Ramapoza ordered an investigation into the circumstances under which the Iranian ships found themselves in Simons Town, but it is not yet clear how far that review has gone.
In that fog, the South African government ordered on Friday, January 30, Ariel Seidman, the chargé d’affaires of the Israeli embassy, to leave the Cape of Good Hope country within the next 72 hours, stating that “the decisive action follows a series of unacceptable violations of diplomatic norms and practices that represent a direct threat to the sovereignty of South Africa…” (https://www.intellinews.com/south-africa-expels-israeli-charg-d-affaires-prompting-retaliation-against-ambassador-in-ramallah-423290/
On the same day, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Gideon Saar decided – that “after South Africa’s false attacks against Israel on the international stage and the unilateral, baseless step taken against Israel’s Chargé d’Affaires in South Africa – that South Africa’s high diplomatic representative, Minister Sean Edward Bienevelt, is persona non grata”. Beinvelt was too given 72 hours to leave—from … from Ramallah – where he was by the way the South African envoy to Palestine—Israel
Now that these days—as expected, Leo Brent Bozell, the new US ambassador, will officially arrive in Pretoria, relations between Washington and Pretoria could become even more “dynamic”.
By the way, Bozell was always an opponent of any negotiations with the African National Congress, which at that time – in the eighties of the last century, was led by the legendary Nelson Mandela, convinced that it was a “pro-communist, pro-terrorist organization” headed by a “mythologized figure”. (https://www.rfi.fr/en/africa/20260110-leo-brent-bozell-iii-new-us-ambassador-to-south-africa)…
By the way, after the December decision of the USA to – during the one-year presidency The G20 excludes the Republic of South Africa from the work of that group, the official Pretoria first announced that it will fight for its place and role in the G20. These days, the official Pretoria temporarily suspended the membership of the Cape of Good Hope country in the G20 for 12 months. https://www.rfi.fr/en/africa/20260127-south-africa-confirms-temporary-withdrawal-from-the-g20-as-us-takes-the-helm-1.
