Rasool supports cautious approach to US ambassador appointment

FORMER South African Ambassador to the US Ebrahim Rasool says President Cyril Ramaphosa is correct to be cautious in appointing a new ambassador to the US. In an exclusive interview with Independent Media at the G20 Interfaith Forum (IF20) in Cape Town, Rasool said the question the country must ask itself is whether it wants to go through the embarrassment of nominating an ambassador, and then having them wait, which was the original plan by the Republicans with him.

- THEOLIN TEMBO

“The question is, do we want to go through that embarrassment of the US making our ambassador stay in limbo for a few months, and then because we have nominally appointed an ambassador, it cuts other channels of communication.

“This (current) state shows that you can still pick up the phone, without going through the embassy. That is the one reason why it is correct to be cautious. The second reason is that you cannot allow the US to choose our ambassador to their country for themselves, because what you then do is that you get an echo chamber...then we have someone who goes “Yes, Mr Trump, you are right”