JOHANNESBURG: A conservative media critic picked by President Donald Trump to be US ambassador to South Africa has arrived to take up his post, the US embassy said Tuesday, as relations between the countries remain fraught.
Brent Bozell’s arrival has been keenly awaited with ties between South Africa and the United States becoming increasingly strained after Trump returned to office in January 2025.
“I’m confirming that he’s in country,” a US embassy official told AFP. Trump’s new envoy arrives in South Africa to frayed relations
Trump announced that he had chosen Bozell for the job in March, soon after expelling South Africa’s ambassador on accusations that he was critical of Washington. Pretoria has yet to announce a successor.
Trump said at the time that Bozell “brings fearless tenacity, extraordinary experience, and vast knowledge to a nation that desperately needs it.”
The ambassador-designate still needs to present his credentials to President Cyril Ramaphosa before officially taking up his post.
The embassy and South Africa’s foreign ministry could not say when this would happen.
Bozell, 70, is founder of the Media Research Center, a non-profit that says it works to “expose and counter the leftist bias of the national news media.”
One of the several sticking points between Washington and Pretoria is South Africa’s genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice.
Bozell is reported to be a strong defender of Israel. Pretoria expelled Israel’s top diplomat last month, citing a “series of violations.”
The Trump administration boycotted South Africa’s G20 in Johannesburg last year and has not invited the nation to its own hosting of the group of leading economies this year.
The United States is South Africa’s second-biggest trading partner by country after China.
The previous ambassador, Reuben Brigety, resigned in November 2024, just before Trump took office.