March 26, 2025
President Donald J. Trump on Wednesday evening announced on Truth Social that he is nominating Brent Bozell for the role of United States Ambassador to South Africa.
“I am pleased to announce that Brent Bozell will be our next United States Ambassador to South Africa. Brent is the Founder of the 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’s nomination comes on the heels of President Cyril Ramaphosa’s remarks to reporters this week that the South African government is in the process of naming a new South African Ambassador to the U.S. and that the government has been in discussions with the Trump administration to resolve the tensions between the two countries
A trifecta of ideological differences in the past two years: South Africa’s International Court of Justice legal action against Israel over the war in Gaza, Trump’s punitive move of halting all funding to South Africa, and the expulsion of Ambassador Ebrahim Rasool have led to a strained relation between the U.S. and South Africa.
Whether or not Bozell can help smooth things between the two countries is left to be seen. However, Bozell, a leader of the right-wing National Conservative Political Action Committee, which helped elect conservative politicians, has long been a critic of South Africa’s leading political party and leaders, and, the country’s ties with Iran.
Bozell also has inveighed against “mythologizing” Nelson Mandela—the former African National Congress party leader and South Africa’s first President post-apartheid, who served 27 years in prison for opposing the apartheid system in South Africa. Bozeil, who has described the ANC party in writing as terrorism, was also part of a coalition of groups that opposed President Reagan Administration’s official meeting with the ANC’s leaders in 1987. The ANC was the leading anti-apartheid group in South Africa.
Bozell was initially picked to run the federal agency for international development, the U.S. Agency for International Development before the agency was defunded by South African-born tech billionaire Elon Musk.
Experts expect Bozell to align with Trump’s foreign policy agenda as well as promote conservative views in South Africa, if confirmed to represent America in South Africa.
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