The man touted as US President Donald Trump's frontrunner to be deployed to lead the embassy of the United States in South Africa, Joel Pollak is already attracting controversy before he secures the plush job in Washington DC.
Earlier this week, IOL reported that the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) led by Julius Malema has opposed the potential appointment of Pollak as the US Ambassador to South Africa, labelling him a "white supremacist".
The party has pledged to block Pollak's entry into South Africa and ensure that President Cyril Ramaphosa does not sign his letters of credence if Trump appoints him.
This week, the South African-born Pollak spoke to Newzroom Afrika, where he revealed that he is Washington's preferred candidate to occupy the top post at the US embassy in Pretoria.
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Pollak said: South Africa has to amend or limit the Expropriation Act, which is what the President (Trump) reacted to, first. It has to change the application of its Black Economic Empowerment laws because right now they discourage American investment and foreign investment of any kind ... because investors show up and immediately have to hand over a huge chunk of their equity to someone they have never met before. That's a problem".
He added that there are different foreign policy positions of South Africa which must also be reviewed for the good of the South Africa-United States relationship.
"There are other foreign policy stances that South Africa has taken such as its alliance with Iran through BRICS, and its pushing of the ICJ (International Court of Justice) case against Israel. The ANC's support for Hamas is a big problem in the relationship between the US and South Africa," said Pollak.
On Tuesday, IOL reported that South Africa is preparing to receive former ambassador to the United States Ebrahim Rasool who was expelled by the State Department in Washington last week. The Department of International Relations and Cooperation in Pretoria says efforts are underway to replace Rasool.
IOL has previously reported that Rasool was expelled from the USA on Friday, after sharing his opinion on Donald Trump’s presidency during a webinar.
Rasool previously served as SA ambassador to the US during the Barack Obama administration between 2010 and 2015. He was re-appointed in January 2025, as ambassador during the Joe Biden and then Donald Trump administration.
Chrispin Phiri, spokesperson for Minister of International Relations and Cooperation, Ronald Lamola told Newzroom Afrika that Dirco will make a recommendation to President Cyril Ramaphosa before the president applies his mind.
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“The process has started to some extent so that we can make a recommendation to the president (Ramaphosa), internally so the department will attend to the internal issues once the person has been duly nominated. This person will be presented, the name, to the president and of course the president will decide,” he said.
“That will require us to follow the processes of the Foreign Services Act, which can take a life of their own, but that is why we have started in the interim all the administrative processes, so that the other processes with other sister departments are expedited.”
During the Newzroom Afrika interview, Phiri could not be drawn into the discussion on whether a specific individual has already been identified, save to say the internal processes of Dirco had begun.