South Africa has declared Israel’s top diplomat, Ariel Seidman, persona non grata and ordered him to leave the country within 72 hours, in a move that sharpens already strained diplomatic ties between Pretoria and Jerusalem.

This came after a visit to the Eastern Cape by senior Israeli officials who engaged with traditional leaders discussing support programmes on water, healthcare, and agriculture.

In a statement issued this afternoon, the Department of International Relations and Co-operation said the visit followed “a series of unacceptable violations of diplomatic norms and practice” and that it challenged South Africa’s sovereignty. The department cited what it called the repeated use of official Israeli social media platforms to launch “insulting attacks” against President Cyril Ramaphosa, and a “deliberate failure” to inform the department of purported visits by senior Israeli officials.

Sources have told The Common Sense that the African National Congress was panicked by an Israeli effort to expand a service delivery programme in the Eastern Cape and the positive reception to that programme by communities, fearing it could expose the governing party’s own failures in basic delivery in some of the country’s poorest areas.

The statement said the conduct amounted to “a gross abuse of diplomatic privilege” and “a fundamental breach of the Vienna Convention”, adding that Seidman’s actions had “systematically undermined the trust and protocols essential for bilateral relations”. It urged Israel to ensure future diplomatic conduct shows respect for South Africa and “the established principles of international engagement”.