South Africa accepts Trump's new US ambassador

Brent Bozell, Founder and President of the Media Research Center, speaks during the "Climate Hustle" panel discussion at the Rayburn House Office Building on April 14, 2016 in Washington, DC. [AFP]

South Africa on Monday said it accepted a conservative envoy highly critical of Pretoria as the new US ambassador to the country, amid frayed relations with US President Donald Trump.

The two countries have been at odds over a series of international and domestic policies, including South Africa's genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice, and the US in March expelled Pretoria's ambassador.

An official told AFP the foreign affairs department had "accepted" Brent Bozell, a right-wing media critic and fervent defender of Israel, adding that an official accreditation ceremony with President Cyril Ramaphosa would take place in April.

A US state department official told AFP Bozell "looks forward to taking up his post and representing America First foreign policy".

Trump chose Bozell for the job in March, saying he would bring "fearless tenacity, extraordinary experience, and vast knowledge to a nation that desperately needs it".

Bozell said at his Senate confirmation hearing in October that he would push Pretoria to end its genocide case against Israel and would "communicate our objections to South Africa's geostrategic drift", citing its relations with Russia, China, and Iran, with whom Pretoria conducted naval exercises in January.

He also told Senators he would promote Trump's offer of refugee status to the white Afrikaner minority, repeating unfounded claims by the US administration that white South Africans are victims of discrimination and even "genocide" under the post-apartheid government.