President Donald Trump has named conservative media critic Leo Brent Bozell III as U.S. ambassador to South Africa, the president said on social media late on Wednesday.
Bozell’s nomination must still be confirmed by the U.S. Senate.
While lower-ranking diplomats are sometimes expelled, it is highly unusual in the US for it to happen to a more senior official.
In February, Trump also signed an executive order freezing US aid to South Africa, citing “unjust racial discrimination” against white Afrikaners.
The order refers to a new law, the Expropriation Act, which allows the government to take away private land.
White South Africans, including Afrikaners, make up 7.2% of the population but hold 72% of individually-owned farmland, according to a 2018 government land audit.
South Africa’s government, led by the African National Congress (ANC) in a coalition of 10 parties, said earlier that Trump’s actions were based on ” a campaign of misinformation and propaganda aimed at misrepresenting our great nation”.
