Pretoria summons American diplomat

SA has summoned the second in command at the US embassy in Pretoria and on Monday will seek an official explanation on President Donald Trump’s alleged reference to African countries as “sh**holes”.

The Department of International Relations and Co-operation would demarche US chargé d’affaires Jessye Lapenn to explain the comments, spokesman Clayson Monyela said on Sunday.

The response would determine SA’s next move, such as demanding an apology,

Diplomatic demarches are used by governments to gather information from a foreign government. Governments may also use a demarche to protest against or object to actions by a foreign government.

Trump’s alleged comments were made during a meeting over US immigration policy on Thursday, with reports suggesting that the US president queried why the US would want to accept immigrants from Haiti, El Salvador and African nations which he referred to as “sh**hole countries.”

Trump has subsequently denied saying anything derogatory, tweeting on Friday: “I have a wonderful relationship with Haitians. Probably should record future meetings— unfortunately, no trust!”. But Trump acknowledged that he had used “tough” language when criticising an agreement on immigration legislation reached by a group of bipartisan senators.

The Department of International Relations and Cooperation said on Sunday that it had noted Trump’s tweets but that the denial was not categorical and referred only to Haiti.