South Africa has formally lodged a protest to the U.S. embassy in Pretoria over alleged derogatory remarks by President Donald Trump on Friday, regarding African and Haitian immigrants.
Trump is reported to have described certain nations as “shithole countries” during a meeting in which he rejected a bipartisan deal on the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program.
South Africa’s Foreign Ministry called the remarks “crude and offensive”, and said Trump’s subsequent denial was not categorical.
“Relations between South Africa and the United States, and between the rest of Africa and the United States, must be based on mutual respect and understanding,” the foreign ministry said in a statement on Sunday.
It added that it would seek an explanation from the second-in-charge of the U.S. embassy over those remarks on Monday.
The alleged remarks drew worldwide condemnation, with many people calling the U.S. president a racist leader.
He however denied using such language, only admitting that his language was ‘tough’.
“The language used by me at the DACA meeting was tough, but this was not the language used. What was really tough was the outlandish proposal made – a big setback for DACA!” he said.
