By Voice Of America/IBNS

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced Friday that South Africa's ambassador to Washington had been declared persona non grata, signaling worsening relations between the two countries.

In a post on X, Rubio said South Africa's ambassador to the U.S., Ebrahim Rasool, was "no longer welcome in our great country."

"Ebrahim Rasool is a race-baiting politician who hates America and hates @POTUS [President of the United States]."

There has been no immediate response from South Africa's embassy in Washington.

Rubio's move came amid tense relations between the U.S. and South Africa. President Donald Trump recently signed an executive order suspending aid to South Africa over a controversial land expropriation act that Trump said would lead to the takeover of white-owned farms. Trump also said that South African farmers were welcome to settle in the United States.

South Africa's President Cyril Ramaphosa, in a post on X, defended his government's measure.

"We are guided by the Constitution, which places a responsibility on the state to take measures to redress the effects of past racial discrimination," he said.

"We have expressed concern about the mischaracterisation of the situation in South Africa and certain of our laws and our foreign policy positions," Ramaphosa said after Trump signed the executive order in early February.