‘I have no regrets!’ – that was the message of South Africa’s expelled ambassador to the US, addressing supporters who’d come to greet him at Cape Town airport.

Ebrahim Rasool took his expulsion by the Trump administration as a ‘badge of dignity.’ The boisterous crowd praised him for serving the country honourably.

The veteran diplomat crossed swords with the Trump administration after he criticised the administration’s crackdown on equity and diversity programmes. Speaking during a webinar featuring academics and political activists, Rasool suggested that Trump had been mobilising the fear that White people could become a minority in the US to justify racist policies.